I apologize for a new post on this but the previous posts did not seem to answer my question. Does anyone know if Dish and ESPN have discussed providing Dish Network customers access to WatchESPN and ESPN3? In the past, ESPN3 access was based on if your ISP ponied up the cash to ESPN to allow access. Now, with WatchESPN, it is primarily based on if you subscribe to a TV package with the ESPN channels. You log in through the WatchESPN app or webpage with your TV/Internet Account credentials and you get access to whatever your corresponding TV package is. I see no reason, other than cost, that Dish could not do this now. Currently, my options for this are only Comcast which is expensive.
WatchESPN and ESPN3 Access
- Thread starter brad880
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As long as DISH and DISNEY are still in a lawsuit then I see no new features being added to the DISNEY owned channels.
Wish I knew the answer to that... we could REALLY use some good exciting news in the DISH programming Department.
I remember DISH CEO Joe Clayton saying at CES that this was a NEW DISH. But from everything that is going on it looks like the same old DISH to me.
I remember DISH CEO Joe Clayton saying at CES that this was a NEW DISH. But from everything that is going on it looks like the same old DISH to me.
Thanks for the info. I used to be a Dish customer and the only thing keeping me from coming back is: 1. lack of whole house DVR and 2. ESPN3... They solved the first one and if they can figure out the second I'd be a Dish customer again. Hopefully, Disney and Dish both come to their senses... But I probably shouldn't hold my breath...
I get ESPN3 from my ISP. Now I don't get WatchESPN, but I do have a sling adapter connected to my Dish receiver. That has allowed me to watch espn (and espn2 etc.) on my tablet. Sure, it's not as fancy as Watch ESPN, but I almost like this way better. It has allowed me to flip over to another game when ESPN was on commercial.
This is why I started a new topic on this... the others all got bogged down in the "ISP provides access"...
ISPs started providing access to ESPN360 (now ESPN3) initially. Since ESPN introduced WatchESPN that includes the regular ESPN channels in addition to ESPN3, the providers have started to require a TV subscription that includes ESPN in order to get access to WatchESPN and ESPN3. The exception is that Comcast still allows access to ESPN3 with only an internet subscription. I believe the other big cable companies do not and I'm sure Comcast will be changing this as well to require a TV subscription to get ESPN3. There are also still some ISP only companies (companies that do not provide TV service) that still provide access to only ESPN3.
The bottom line is, any ISP and/or TV provider (Dish, DirecTV, etc.) can provide access to ESPN3 and WatchESPN if they so choose. They just have to pay Disney to do so. So far, this hasn't happened.
I am really only interested in ESPN3 (I don't have the need to watch ESPN outside of my home). Comcast provides me this with only an internet subscription. However as I stated above, I think Comcast will require a TV suscription in the near future to get ESPN3 in addition to an internet subscription. Right now, I have limited options for internet and TV: CenturyLink and Comcast for internet; Dish and Comcast for TV (I cannot recieve DirecTV due to trees - I tried, Dish is okay though). CenturyLink has stated they will not be providing access to ESPN3 anytime soon. So that leaves me with Comcast as my only option... It would be great to have another option.
ISPs started providing access to ESPN360 (now ESPN3) initially. Since ESPN introduced WatchESPN that includes the regular ESPN channels in addition to ESPN3, the providers have started to require a TV subscription that includes ESPN in order to get access to WatchESPN and ESPN3. The exception is that Comcast still allows access to ESPN3 with only an internet subscription. I believe the other big cable companies do not and I'm sure Comcast will be changing this as well to require a TV subscription to get ESPN3. There are also still some ISP only companies (companies that do not provide TV service) that still provide access to only ESPN3.
The bottom line is, any ISP and/or TV provider (Dish, DirecTV, etc.) can provide access to ESPN3 and WatchESPN if they so choose. They just have to pay Disney to do so. So far, this hasn't happened.
I am really only interested in ESPN3 (I don't have the need to watch ESPN outside of my home). Comcast provides me this with only an internet subscription. However as I stated above, I think Comcast will require a TV suscription in the near future to get ESPN3 in addition to an internet subscription. Right now, I have limited options for internet and TV: CenturyLink and Comcast for internet; Dish and Comcast for TV (I cannot recieve DirecTV due to trees - I tried, Dish is okay though). CenturyLink has stated they will not be providing access to ESPN3 anytime soon. So that leaves me with Comcast as my only option... It would be great to have another option.
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I get internet/phone from a local cabelco (Wide Open West) and I get ESPN3 from them even though my pay-tv provider is Dish. And before I had WOW!, I had U-Verse and received ESPN3. Same thing, internet/phone from them with tv from Dish. So there are others out there.
