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whobrey
join:2001-08-04
Lincoln, NE

whobrey

Member

Time Warner/WatchESPN

Is there any chance Time Warner includes this by this Fall?

Last year I was told that I need a cable TV subscription to watch ESPN on the web. What is the sense of that? If I actually had a TV and cable, I'd have no use for WatchESPN on the web since I could watch on TV, but I don't since I only want to watch 1 or 2 events a year.

Racerbob
Premium Member
join:2001-06-24
Webster, NY

Racerbob

Premium Member

The sense of that is that you are paying for the service if you subscribe to TW Cable TV. You want them to include Watch ESPN if you only have internet through them ? I don't think that you will see that happen.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena to whobrey

Premium Member

to whobrey
You need a cable TV subscription. (Or satellite, etc). They just provide you with an alternative way of viewing the channel. You can't get it for free. People just want to be able to watch on their iDevices or Androids, or laptops while traveling, or in the yard where there is no TV, or in the park while enjoying the sunshine, or or.... it's just an alternative way of viewing for the moments you are not near a TV. You can't get around not paying for it though.

You are trying to circumvent paying for the content. I understand though, because just as you I don't want to pay $1,000 a year just to have a cable subscription i don't use.

So I decided the thousand dollars a year I save is more important then the few sports events I watch, so I let it go, its just not important enough for me.

But yeah: No pay for cable TV --> No get WatchESPN.

whobrey
join:2001-08-04
Lincoln, NE

whobrey

Member

You absolutely do not HAVE to have a cable subscription. An ISP can provide ESPN access, and some do. I used to get access to WatchESPN on a different ISP, Windstream (which was a pure ISP, no cable TV involved). Unfortunately, Windstream cancelled their contract with ESPN last year, so I cancelled mine with Windstream. I was led to believe I would have access to ESPN through Time Warner, so I switched to them. After about 6 long phone calls to various tech support people, I finally got a straight answer, and was told that, no, I would have to buy a cable subscription to access ESPN on my computer, whether I had a TV or not.

As for having access without paying for it, I do expect to pay for it. If there was an optional higher price including ESPN, fine. lf I could pay ESPN directly for access, either on a per event or subscription basis, that would be fine, too, but you can't.

Sooooo.... Thanks, guys. You answered my question, I guess, and while I don't like the answer, I did what I apparently need to do. I made the call today and by this time next week I should be connected to a small local provider, Internet Nebraska, which does pay for ESPN.
mja1980
join:2013-05-09

mja1980

Member

well here we go again. This was designed to be a perk for subscribers, now poeple say why can't i just get that? Kinda like you can just get the nfl sunday ticket max for computers, without getting the tv part for dtv. That bother you? Hbogo people want that without subscribing. where does it end?

Suit Up
join:2003-07-21
Los Angeles, CA
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X
TP-Link Archer C7

Suit Up to whobrey

Member

to whobrey
said by whobrey:

Is there any chance Time Warner includes this by this Fall?

This Fall? Probably not. It might happen if/when the TWC and Comcast merger is complete, though, as Comcast provides it for internet only customers.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena to mja1980

Premium Member

to mja1980
said by mja1980:

Kinda like you can just get the nfl sunday ticket max for computers, without getting the tv part for dtv.

Actually.... there is a way. But ONLY if you cannot get DirecTV due to e.g. line of sight issues. If you go and order DirecTV and Sunday Ticket, and the installer comes out and determines that you indeed CANNOT receive a signal from the satellites, you are allowed to subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket online. But ONLY when you have DirecTV saying you can, and you will still pay the same full price.

Suit Up
join:2003-07-21
Los Angeles, CA
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X
TP-Link Archer C7

1 recommendation

Suit Up to mja1980

Member

to mja1980
said by mja1980:

This was designed to be a perk for subscribers

No, it wasn't. ESPN3.com, as it was then known, was only available to participating ISPs who paid ESPN for access. This was ESPN's way of ensuring that their pay model would continue even if subscription based cable and satellite TV services died off due to the popularity of the internet. By using this system, they are able to demand a price per ISP subscriber as they do now with cable subscribers, so even if the ISP user is not interested in sports at all, they are still subsidizing ESPN.

It wasn't until a few years later, after TWC refused to enter this model, that ESPN3 became available for TWC TV subscribers by entering your TWC username and password. Prior to that there was no login mechanism as it just needed to check what ISP you were using.
spdickey
join:2002-11-17
Pacific Palisades, CA
Technicolor E31T2V1
eero Wi-Fi System
Obihai OBi202

spdickey to whobrey

Member

to whobrey
Let's see, since you're not paying TWC for ESPN's programming services (including WatchESPN which TWC does offer) why are you asking TWC to provide to you for free.

You will probably have better results contacting Comcast or Charter or Dish Network about not paying for ESPN to see if they'll provide it for you.

In other words, stop complaining to TWC. Its ESPN what wants you to pay, and right now they will only do it through their distributors, the cable, fiber and satellite companies.

whobrey
join:2001-08-04
Lincoln, NE

whobrey

Member

suitup has it correct. ESPN3 was set up to provide this through ISPs, which was a path totally separate than through TV to provide their content. My former ISP provided it, but then stopped. I switched to Time Warner because they misleadingly claimed to provide access to it, but neglected to mention that you needed to also buy cable service. I'd call that misleading, if not an outright lie.

Considering that Time Warner charges more for internet service than the other providers, it's not a matter of me not wanting to pay ESPN, but of them not wanting to pay ESPN.
Happydude32
Premium Member
join:2005-07-16

Happydude32

Premium Member

quote:
I switched to Time Warner because they misleadingly claimed to provide access to it, but neglected to mention that you needed to also buy cable service. I'd call that misleading, if not an outright lie.
All I did was Google the string 'Time Warner Cable and ESPN 3' and this is the first link that came up. Seems pretty clear to me. Nothing at all misleading about it what so ever.

»www.timewarnercable.com/ ··· pn3.html

whobrey
join:2001-08-04
Lincoln, NE

whobrey

Member

Just to clarify... as suitup explained above, the content of ESPN3 is minor sporting events that would never be on TV, and is provided on a web-only basis. Even if you have a TV and cable, you can't watch it on your TV because it isn't on cable. It is available only via the web, which makes it more logically a product provided via ISP than a product provided via a cable subscription.
whobrey

1 edit

whobrey to Happydude32

Member

to Happydude32
I certainly didn't see that link before I subscribed to Time Warner, and when I called in and asked the sales rep, she didn't say anything of the sort. Instead I got something along the lines of "yes, we have ESPN3". When I started making calls to the service department about why I couldn't access it, the first few people I talked to weren't aware of that, either. Instead I got the runaround about how to set up my special online account, and so forth.

maartena
Elmo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-10
Orange, CA

maartena to whobrey

Premium Member

to whobrey
said by whobrey:

suitup has it correct. ESPN3 was set up to provide this through ISPs, which was a path totally separate than through TV to provide their content. My former ISP provided it, but then stopped. I switched to Time Warner because they misleadingly claimed to provide access to it, but neglected to mention that you needed to also buy cable service. I'd call that misleading, if not an outright lie.

Considering that Time Warner charges more for internet service than the other providers, it's not a matter of me not wanting to pay ESPN, but of them not wanting to pay ESPN.

It may have been true at the time you went with TWC, just like Suit Up said. But Time Warner Cable, just like every other provider out there, will at some point have to re-negotiate carriage deals with channel owners such as Disney.

ESPN was re-negotiated in 2010, per this article:

»latimesblogs.latimes.com ··· ble.html

The LA Times is generally known as a reputable source of journalism. The article specifically states this:

"ESPN3.com, a live sports network delivered via high-speed Internet access, will also be provided to Time Warner Cable subscribers who pay to receive ESPN. Disney attempted, unsuccessfully, to get the cable company to pay a separate fee for ESPN3 based on the number of its broadband subscribers regardless of whether they visited the site. That was a key deal point for Time Warner Cable.

ESPN and sister channels, ESPN2 and ESPNU, will also be available to Time Warner Cable subscribers online and through Internet-connected mobile devices such as Apple's iPad, through a new authenticated service that verifies the viewer is a Time Warner Cable customer."


So according this article, they have not had ESPN3 access on Internet-Only accounts since 2010.

This information could have been easily researched with a single Google search, the article is after all almost 4 years old.
maartena

maartena to whobrey

Premium Member

to whobrey
said by whobrey:

Just to clarify... as suitup explained above, the content of ESPN3 is minor sporting events that would never be on TV, and is provided on a web-only basis. Even if you have a TV and cable, you can't watch it on your TV because it isn't on cable. It is available only via the web, which makes it more logically a product provided via ISP than a product provided via a cable subscription.

Why do you think that? The ESPN3 content is linked to the carriage deal of ESPN1 and ESPN2, it is just brought to you via a different medium.

The carriage deal signed by PAC12 sports is somewhat the same. They have 7 channels, but generally a cable subscriber only carries the main channel and ONE of the SIX localized channels, that focus on one of the six local markets in the PAC12 system. Those channels, and its contents, are available online. But NOT to Internet-Only subscribers, you have to have a television package that includes PAC12.

It is the cable company's way of preventing (or trying to prevent) cord cutting. If people can get sports online a-la-carte, it's probably all over for cable and satellite companies, because it is the BIGGEST ace in the hole they still have to force people into a cable subscription. With Netflix/Hulu/Amazon, and devices like Apple TV, Roku and Amazon Fire gaining in popularity, they one true thing that is still missing from cord cutter's available video streams.... is sports. And cable companies are going to cling to sports as hard as they can, as if they lose sports.... they probably lose 10% of their customers to cord-cutting, as THAT is what keeps them paying.

So in the end....mr whobrey, you bought the words of a sales rep that reeled you in, and you didn't do your own research. You are free to continue to complain here of course, but it is no one's fault but your own.

Suit Up
join:2003-07-21
Los Angeles, CA
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X
TP-Link Archer C7

Suit Up to maartena

Member

to maartena
said by maartena:

So according this article, they have not had ESPN3 access on Internet-Only accounts since 2010.

TWC has never had ESPN3 access on internet only accounts.

But I don't think it unreasonable for people to assume since the majority of providers offer it to internet only accounts that if a TWC sales rep tells them that TWC does carry it, that they can get it with an internet only account. It's TWC who is the odd one out here, not the other providers.

whobrey
join:2001-08-04
Lincoln, NE

1 edit

whobrey to maartena

Member

to maartena
>maartena said "You are free to continue to complain here of course, but it is no one's fault but your own"

Oh, I'm done complaining. I came here for one and only one purpose, to find out if there was any chance of TWC permitting ESPN access in the future (and thus a reason for me to stay with TWC). That question has been answered. Apparently the only chance is if the TWC/Comcast merger goes through, in which case one of two things will happen when they unify their policies. Either TWC customers will gain access to ESPN3, or Comcast customers will lose access.

>Marteena wrote "Why do you think that?" [with regards to my comment that ESPN3 covers minor sporting events not on TV]
In fairness, WatchESPN has changed from the original ESPN3 days, and I really don't know what is on it anymore since I don't have access to it. The only thing I ever watched on ESPN3 was certain minor sporting events that are not on TV, and that's all I'm looking to watch now. On rare occasions when I want to watch something on one of the main ESPN channels, I just go to a sports bar, as I did once last year. I'm just not a huge sports fan, i just like to see a few select things.

>suitup wrote: "I don't think it unreasonable for people to assume since the majority of providers offer it to internet only accounts that if a TWC sales rep tells them that TWC does carry it, that they can get it with an internet only account. It's TWC who is the odd one out here, not the other providers."

Exactly. But I know better now. At this point it's water under the bridge. Given the answers I have received, I have acted appropriately, and will be on a different ISP by the end of next week. Thank everyone for their replies.

ysur
@76.173.52.x

ysur

Anon

WatchESPN and ESPN3 are actually 2 different services. WatchESPN is actually the live stream of all the ESPN channels. Since ESPN charges providers a pretty penny for the live content, it makes zero sense to expect a user to get WatchESPN for nothing.

ESPN3 is the streaming part which also has on-demand replays. You are mistaken in that they only have minor events. Sometimes there are simulcasts with one of the ESPN tv channels. Sometimes what is there are the alternative games to those shown on tv in your region.

Anyway, it is possible to have ESPN3 access without getting the live WatchESPN part. As far as I know, Time Warner has never even had a ESPN3-only contract. If I remember correctly, as part of the agreement for Time Warner to carry ESPN3, ESPN created watching the tv channels live online.

OSUGoose
join:2007-12-27
Columbus, OH

OSUGoose to whobrey

Member

to whobrey
If you have AT&T DSL or U-Verse, you can use it with just a Internet package, no TV needed.

whobrey
join:2001-08-04
Lincoln, NE

whobrey

Member

It's the streaming ESPN3 I'm interested in, not the live stuff.

In any case, some ISPs provide it, some don't. TWC happens to be one that doesn't, so I switched.