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For sports fans on the go, ESPN has launched an official app that will enable iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users to live-stream the company’s most popular networks wherever they are — but there’s a catch.
Available now in the Apple App Store, the free WatchESPN app will only work for you if you’re a cable TV subscriber with Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks or Verizon FIOS. Once you download the app, you just enter your customer info and you’ll have instant access to anything broadcasting on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or the ESPN3.com web service.
But if you’re a Comcast subscriber or stuck with some smaller cable provider, you’re out of luck. Likewise, if you’re looking for 24-hour highlights on ESPN Classic or some Spanish-language programing on ESPN Deportes, this app isn’t for you. DirecTV or Dish Network loyalist? Nothing to see here.
And as of now, the same app build will be running on all compatible iOS devices, but the company does say that an iPad-optimized version is slated for some time in March.
Frankly, it’s surprising that the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports hadn’t already gone this route, as official video-streaming apps from MLB and the NCAA have already made great in-roads with certain customer bases.
ESPN, of course, offers an incredible variety of programming, so it should be a boon for those eligible cable TV customers that can’t make it in front of a TV in time for anything from the Masters to Sunday Night Baseball to the World Series of Poker.
Photo: Flickr/tavarua, CC
