January 25, 2023
Charter To Carry ESPN 360.com
- by David Goetzl @dgoetzl, October 2, 2009
After offering the online sports hub in two large markets, Charter Communications is making ESPN360.com available to all of its broadband customers.
Charter serves 2.96 million broadband homes (as of June 30). Customers in Los Angeles and St. Louis already had access to the site.
ESPN360's total distribution is now over 50 million homes.
Charter, the country's fourth-largest cable operator, joins Comcast and Cox as top five cable companies offering the service across their entire footprint. Time Warner Cable and Cablevision continue to resist.
ESPN360.com is streaming hundreds of live college football games this fall, which could have particular appeal to Charter customers in Texas and the Southeast.
The Charter agreement is in line with ESPN's efforts to allow operators to shift the ESPN Classic network to a sports tier, in exchange for offering ESPN360 and providing wider distribution for the ESPNU and ESPN Deportes networks.
ESPN receives TV-type affiliate fees from operators for rights to make 360 available, reportedly charging a sub fee of 5 cents per month. ESPN says 360 carries 3,500 live sports events a year, from NBA playoff games to overseas cricket.
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Cox Communications is also doing this promotion. I received an email about it 24 hours ago, and I signed-up right away.
The one thing to note is that it only works on the computer(s) through which you have Cox Internet service; I cannot access ESPN360.com through other computers. This is most likely the same deal with Charter, but that is not mention in this story.