WatchESPN is the former branding of the Internet television website and mobile application operated by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation. The service provides streaming simulcasts of ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, ACC Network, Longhorn Network, SEC Network, ESPN Goal Line and ESPN Buzzer Beater for select cable television subscribers in the United States; it also serves as the exclusive platform for broadcasts from ESPN3, which until 2011, had operated as a separate website with a similar functionality to WatchESPN. The service is only available to subscribers of participating cable, IPTV and satellite television providers, and was not offered as a standalone internet-only subscription service available to those who do not have a pay television subscription. On July 1, 2019, ESPN officially discontinued the WatchESPN app and branding, redirecting users to the ESPN app and ESPN.com streaming. Since the launch of the over-the-top companion service ESPN+ in 2018, ESPN has increasingly preferred paywalling new or renewed content acquisitions on that service instead of ESPN3. It is a standalone subscription product and does not require a separate television subscription.
History
As ESPN Networks
WatchESPN originally launched on October 25, 2010, when Time Warner Cable became the first cable television provider to offer ESPN Networks, which provided subscribers to ESPN an online simulcast of the channel through a dedicated website. Bright House Networks began offering ESPN Networks on November 22, 2010. On January 25, 2011, ESPN Networks added streaming simulcast feeds of ESPN2 and ESPNU, as well as out-of-market sports packages ESPN Goal Line and ESPN Buzzer Beater to the website, accessible only to subscribers of those services. Verizon FiOS began providing access to streams on the ESPN Networks website on February 17, 2011.
As WatchESPN
On April 7, 2011, ESPN released a mobile app called WatchESPN on the App Store for Apple devices, using the same subscriber authentication functionality to allow access to simulcasts of the available ESPN channels on the service via the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch; the app was released on the Android Market on May 9, 2011. The ESPN Networks website was subsequently rebranded under the WatchESPN name on August 31, 2011. On May 8, 2012, Comcast began allowing authenticated Xfinity TV customers access to WatchESPN's streams via the app, as part of a deal in which the streams available on WatchESPN would also be made available on Xfinity's 'watch now' website. On August 28, 2012, Midco began allowing access to WatchESPN's simulcasts for its customers. Charter added access to the service in mid-February 2013. Dish Network, the first satellite provider to provide access to WatchESPN, announced it had added the service on April 1, 2014. Longhorn Network and SEC Network programs were added to the service upon SEC Network's launch on August 14, 2014. ESPN Classic was never made available on WatchESPN due to a lack of live sports rights and licensing limitations, along with a general move to a video on demand model. In 2015, ESPN began to deprecate the standalone WatchESPN apps, after having released updated versions of the network's main mobile app with integrated streaming. In 2017, ESPN began to significantly downplay the WatchESPN branding in favor of marketing the ESPN app more extensively on-air. ESPN withdrew the WatchESPN app from the App Store and Google Play on July 1, 2019, and redirected the web presence of WatchESPN to an equivalent section on ESPN.com.
Distribution
Simulcasts of the ESPN channels available on the WatchESPN app and website were available through TV Everywhere subscription authentication through a number of providers which expanded through the years after new carriage agreements were negotiated. In 2015, as part of a new agreement with The Walt Disney Company, DirecTV added authentication rights to WatchESPN for its subscribers. Two major IPTV providers, Dish's Sling TV and PlayStation Vue, also offered authentication to WatchESPN. ESPN3, a similar service that had operated separately from WatchESPN until it was integrated into the service in 2011, is available through many other cable providers including those listed above. In all cases, a TV Everywhere login through a customer's service provider is required to access the services; ESPN3 is also accessible without login if the user's IP address can be traced to a participating ISP.
The WatchESPN.com website allowed viewers to view and switch between up to 20 events in a main viewing window, along with on-demand access after an event's end. The WatchESPN player additionally features four modules: Featured Events, Stats, the Chat 140 section, and Facebook connect.
Mobile devices
WatchESPN was available through the ESPN app for Android and iOS, and the WatchESPN app for Windows Phone. In December 2015, WatchESPN's streaming features were integrated directly into the main ESPN app for Android and iOS, with the standalone WatchESPN app deprecated on these platforms.
On June 19, 2013, the service became available through Apple TV. WatchESPN became available on Roku streaming players on November 12, 2013. Chromecast support was added to the Android and iOS apps as part of an update released on June 3, 2014. Eventually, these apps became known as the ESPN app over time and added other functionality.
Windows 8/10
The WatchESPN app became available for download for compatible Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 devices from the Windows Store in February 2014, a version also compatible with Windows 10. Support for the app was withdrawn on June 30, 2017.
