How/where the f@#%k to watch ESPN+ ????

[GetAwesome]

Pro Tip: For those who live in Iowa without an antenna, cable, and the Internet, the box score should be printed in the sports section of your local newspaper that delivers the morning after a game (as long as the kickoff time was before 6pm the night before).

 

[isucy86]

No you are projecting your habits on everyone. My habits are someone who is going to figure it out because I do care.

The problem is the casual viewer like my parents who will likely not watch this game since it needs to be streamed. They generally watch all of the Iowa State games. It’s also about my Grandparents who don’t understand how to stream it but would have watched had it been on any cable channel. It’s also about the person who likes football and will find a game but only looks at the games they get with their cable package.

Streaming right now is great for games that weren’t going to otherwise be shown but pulling games that were going to be on a regular channel is a bad thing.

It is a complication for the casual fan or older people who can struggle with all the potential devices if they don't have a smart-TV.

But the ESPN's & FOX's of the world are paying big $ with the idea that eventually most games with be shown on a pay app. It's just a matter of time.

I was checking out ISU's basketball schedule yesterday. Something like 8 non-con and 6 conference games will be on BIG12 Now/ESPN+. About another 6 Big12 games are in ESPNU. To catch those U games, I will need to upgrade my FUBO package or switch streaming services. The nice thing, it takes less than 10 minutes to switch/cancel. If I had Mediacom I would spend 20 minutes in phone cancelling or unable because I got a great deal, but have a 2 year agreement.

Hopefully for the technically challenged the interfaces continual to improve. I can see within 10 years it all be voice driven. Aka. TV On, Watch ISU Basketball.

I guess u know what your parents need for Christmas- Roku, etc. Cheers.

 

[Urbandale2013]

I understand your argument, I really do but the cable model is dying and it's going to do nothing but benefit the Big 12 to be out in front and be an early adapter.

ESPN has the ability to put up to 2 league games per team on SECN+/ESPN+ starting next year. The ACC starts with that in 2023. One of the big hurdles that the Big Ten is having with a new FOX deal is that FOX doesn't have a viable streaming service at this point and their non-TV basketball games are being produced by Flo at $30 per month. The PAC12 has a network but you can't watch it.

Having affordable, easily accessible streaming is nothing but a bonus whether or not we're completely on board with the initial bumps in early rollout.

I guess we have different definitions of "regular people," which is fine. I would argue that 5-10 years is an eternity in this field. Look at how much things have changed in the last 10 years. The era of streaming sports is here now, and it will only be a couple years before it's dominant.
Regardless, you're right that ESPN will need to do more to get people to accept ESPN+ as a must-have. Creating the bundle when Disney+ came out was brilliant, and I expect they'll continue putting more and more of their best content on there until it becomes essential for watching sports. The same thing happened with ESPN the network 20 years ago where people wrung their hands about big games being on cable vs. broadcast, but this will be a much faster change.

I think it is important to be ahead of the game and I do think streaming is going to be a big part of the future. I just don’t think it is the savior that doesn’t think it is. We are already seeing the streaming services going to just as expensive bundles as cable.

With that the you also still have lots of people who do not have proper internet access. I’ve said it before and I will say it again. Up until this year I had one option for internet and it was slow speeds. I’ve had issues streaming live video and I live in a new neighborhood in the metro. My internets been better this year and I now have access to Metronet but haven’t made the switch quite yet. I will see how this game goes and go from there. You have a vast majority of the country who is less tech savvy than me.

I also think you’d get more buy in if people didn’t have to still have a regular package to get regular sports channels. If you could get all of them through an ESPN bundle you’d get better buy in.

 

[cyrocksmypants]

Our internet access is by satellite & HughesNet is the provider. Speed is not sufficient for streaming which is a bummer. Same problem with US Cellular streaming on phone. Sucks but it is what happens when living in low populated rural area. Suspect I will have to research some sports bar fairly close. Our local 8 man team is in the playoffs & the IAHSAA sells tickets on line only. Been told that eventually all entertainment, banking etc. will be online. I’m going to have to adopt a grade schooler to get me by until they send me out to pasture.

Sounds like a revamping of infrastructure to add high speed access to rural areas could be beneficial to you.

 

[CascadeClone]

For me it's the hassle and the ONE MORE GD THING TO EFF WITH IN MY LIFE factor.

Is it hard? No, not really, it will take me 10 minutes to set up ESPN+ thru the ESPN app on our Roku. Log in to ESPN. Sign up. Log in to paypal to pay for it.
Is it the cost? No, $6 is no biggie. I'd spend that on a single beer watching it at a bar.

But I will never turn ESPN+ on again. Basketball games, I have season tix, and will be at Hilton. Maybe a couple of road games is it. I really don't watch sports other than ISU. Used to watch NHL and NFL a lot, but really haven't for 10 years or more. I certainly don't watch UFC, MLS, WNBA, Texas HS football, Curling, Euro Team Handball, Cornhole League, or the American Dodgeball Association of America. Or worse, the NBA.

So after the game, I have to go in and cancel my subscription, thus doubling the minor inconvenience. So it feels like you pay for a cheap PPV experience, and tolerate the hassle, or else sign up for $6 per month (times 2 or 3 or 4 different providers) until the end of time.

All that b!tching aside, there's a 99% chance I sign up for ESPN+ to watch the game. Just like I did with CBS Sports for the UNLV game.


tl;dr - Old Man yells at cloud.

 

[Bader]

In week 11 Florida Samford will be on ESPN+
In week 12 there are 3 SEC v Cupcake games that will be on ESPN+

In the coming years SEC v Cupcake and SEC v SEC bottomfeeder (Vanderbilt, Texas, etc) will be put on ESPN+. Dread It. Run From it. ESPN+ arrives all the same.

FYI all these conversations Williams and others have about Amazon/Apple/Netflix getting involved in broadcasting, how do you think you're going to watch them?

 

[Bestaluckcy]

Ok so we have a home in rural Iowa. Our solution to modern TV was to switch to US Cellular and get an iPad with unlimited data. We chose to go with You tube TV and cast from the iPad to a non smart tv. To get ESPN+ we downloaded the ESPN app and subscribed on the ipad. Afterwards we find that we can watch ESPN+ on the IPAD but cannot cast to the tv, ESPN+ or anything on the ESPN app. ESPN will work fine with our you tube TV. So any thoughts on what we may have turned wrong so we cannot cast ESPN+ from our iPad to our tv?

 

[Bader]

Ok so we have a home in rural Iowa. Our solution to modern TV was to switch to US Cellular and get an iPad with unlimited data. We chose to go with You tube TV and cast from the iPad to a non smart tv. To get ESPN+ we downloaded the ESPN app and subscribed on the ipad. Afterwards we find that we can watch ESPN+ on the IPAD but cannot cast to the tv, ESPN+ or anything on the ESPN app. ESPN will work fine with our you tube TV. So any thoughts on what we may have turned wrong so we cannot cast ESPN+ from our iPad to our tv?

What do you have plugged into the tv? A chromecast?

 

[swiacy]

Sounds like a revamping of infrastructure to add high speed access to rural areas could be beneficial to you.

This is the solution but the catch is that the cost is so high that the ROI with such a low population will not attract private investment. The only way we got electricity was through the creation of REC’s & government low interest loans. I suspect that access to high speed internet that the cities enjoy will be through a similar REC business coop model. I don’t expect AT&T or any other player to step up to the plate unless forced to.

 

[Bestaluckcy]

What do you have plugged into the tv? A chromecast?

use hdmi cable and hook up the iPad

 

[Bader]

use hdmi cable and hook up the iPad

Searching through the tubes there are multiple complaints from different websites about not being able to cast the ESPN app using a HDMI cable. Sorry. You might try accessing the video from the ESPN website via Safari on the iPad, most likely you'll keep getting pushed to use the app while trying to open a video

 

[2ndCyCE]

I guess we have different definitions of "regular people," which is fine. I would argue that 5-10 years is an eternity in this field. Look at how much things have changed in the last 10 years. The era of streaming sports is here now, and it will only be a couple years before it's dominant.
Regardless, you're right that ESPN will need to do more to get people to accept ESPN+ as a must-have. Creating the bundle when Disney+ came out was brilliant, and I expect they'll continue putting more and more of their best content on there until it becomes essential for watching sports. The same thing happened with ESPN the network 20 years ago where people wrung their hands about big games being on cable vs. broadcast, but this will be a much faster change.

The bolded part could not be more true! It was just 10 years ago that some CONFERENCE games were not even televised at all and many were relegated to that obscure FCS channel!!

 

[cymonw1980]

DirecTV doesn’t have it. Dish doesn’t have it. My YouTubeTV doesn’t have it. BWW can’t show it. Chicken Coop can’t show it. How the F do I watch this lame frickin channel?

ESPN+ Is a streaming service. If you have a Smart TV connected to the internet, or a device like FireTV, AppleTV, etc. you can download the ESPN+ app. Then you can watch the game through the app.

It is a stand alone service so you will need to subscribe (about $6 / month). However, they usually have a 7 day trial... so if you sign up now and cancel after the game, you may be able to watch for free.

It's not as good as TV (during the UNI game their coverage crashed right at the end of the 4th qtr so I had to listen to the radio through a streaming app - I live in NC now)... They did fix it before the end of the game, but it was not ideal. I guess on a positive note, nothing happened in that game that any of us wanted to see anyway.

But this is the future. Companies will need to increase performance for streaming live events.. this is the main concern when you talk about Amazon Prime, Apple TV, etc. for the next round of TV deals. But performance will improve... just will take time.... and won't be by Saturday. hoping for better this weekend.

 

[Bestaluckcy]

Searching through the tubes there are multiple complaints from different websites about not being able to cast the ESPN app using a HDMI cable. Sorry. You might try accessing the video from the ESPN website via Safari on the iPad, most likely you'll keep getting pushed to use the app while trying to open a video

Thanks yeah keep getting the error 5 message, and the ESPN help people used their standard “ buy a smarter TV”.

 

[crs8975]

You guys just need to find a good game watch bar like we have here in CO that streams the games for us

 

[DeereClone]

Who are these 'casuals' that you keep referring to?

Anybody that will pay more than a cursory glance to the game likely has ESPN+. They've got 15 million subscribers. Advertisers and people paying the bills don't care about the random person that stops on the game for 2 minutes. They want the people that are invested.

There's nobody out there going 'man, I don't watch football and really haven't for my entire life but there's something about this game between Iowa State and West Virginia that has totally changed my mind about everything. I think I'll sit her for 4 hours and watch it.'

You're simply projecting your habits on to everyone else.

If that's the case why are any football games on network television? If the advertisers want people that are invested as you say, they would want all NFL and college games to be pay per view on a streaming service wouldn't they?

 

[Nader_uggghhh]

ESPN+ unusable for me. I have 50mb internet and it won't buffer smoothly with a 2014 era Samsung 4k smart TV. I have to cast from the app on my phone and the graphics are trash doing that.

In the TV app I have to click on the event at least 5 times before it'll let me access the event. You can't select the event before it starts so I would miss the first 10 minutes plus of everything I wanted to watch.

Random events wouldn't come in at all. The Big 12 wrestling tournament for example wouldn't work at all. When I contacted customer service they told me that it was an issue they were aware of and didn't offer a solution or refund. I stream literally everything with 0 problems except for ESPN+. **** ESPN

 

[1UNI2ISU]

If that's the case why are any football games on network television? If the advertisers want people that are invested as you say, they would want all NFL and college games to be pay per view on a streaming service wouldn't they?

The NFL is an entirely different beast but still look at the bidding war that streamers are having right now to get rights to Sunday Ticket away from DirecTV.

As for college games, it's already happening. There's a reason all of these contracts are allowing games to be moved to streaming services. Within the decade, the only games that are going to be on linear cable are your absolute bluebloods. Hell, NBC has the right to move up to 3 Notre Dame games to Peacock starting in 2025 and placed one there this year. If Notre Dame isn't exempt from this, no one is.

 

[bozclone]

I have no issues watching ESPN +. App works well for me. I just hate giving those a holes more of my money.

 

[VeloClone]

If that's the case why are any football games on network television? If the advertisers want people that are invested as you say, they would want all NFL and college games to be pay per view on a streaming service wouldn't they?

Creative reading of what he said.

He said "(They) don't care about the random viewer who stops on the game for 2 minutes." If that is all the random viewer is doing they certainly aren't sticking around for any commercials - which is what pays the bills. With that being the definition of what is not invested there is room for a lot of different levels of "invested" viewers.

And to answer your question they want some games on network television because it is a gateway. People are able to stumble on an occasional game and they get more invested so they are more likely to put in the work to find the games or pay extra for those that aren't on broadcast TV.