ESPN's decision to end its high-profile collaboration with Sprint last week is testimony to how difficult it is to get people to change from their existing cellphone plans. Just eight months after
kicking off the service with Super Bowl advertising, ESPN pulled the plug on Mobile ESPN, losing an estimated $25 million. ESPN, which now plans to license its sports content to cellphone carriers,
isn't the first company to fail at the wireless game. By the time MCI bailed out of its wireless alliance with Sprint, it had racked up losses of almost $1 billion, recalls Roger Entner, a wireless
analyst at Ovum. Virgin, which also has a partnership with Sprint, has managed to attract around 4 million users. But it has had a hard time getting any bigger, Entner says. Last November, Sprint
announced a joint venture with Time Warner, Comcast, Cox and Advance/Newhouse Communications to market a wireless service this year that would be sold under their respective brand names. But none of
the cable companies has launched a commercial product thus far, though some wireless trials are planned in a few markets later this year. Part of the problem, Entner says, is that wireless is a
complex product that requires technical sophistication, deep pockets and an army of customer-service representatives.
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