BRISTOL, Conn.—Mobile ESPN L.L.C. reported plans to offer college football fans the chance to watch up to 25 live games each month during the season from their Mobile ESPN wireless phones.
The mobile virtual network operator announced that it will offer live video from a line-up of games from ESPN and ESPN2, kicking off the offering with the Florida State vs. Miami game on Sept. 4 and continuing for the rest of the college football season.
“The addition of live college games to our content represents a key milestone in the way we’re using innovative technology to serve sports fans,” said Manish Jha, Mobile ESPN’s senior vice president and general manager, in a company statement.
In addition to the games themselves, ads shown during the games that have been cleared for use on the mobile platform will also be streamed to the phones; when ads are shown on TV that have not been cleared for mobile use, they will be replaced on the handset with ads for ESPN-branded services.
Access to the games is available for subscribers who have Mobile ESPN’s Total Sports Package; the service costs $25 per month, but the first month is offered for free. The package includes all of Mobile ESPN’s sports content, alerts, wireless Internet access and text messaging. Mobile ESPN includes its basic Sports Package (with content such as game scores and other statistics) with any voice plan. The Total Sports Package plan charge is in addition to voice plan costs, which range from $40 monthly for 400 anytime minutes to $200 per month for 6,000 anytime minutes.
Mobile ESPN recently added the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Ace flip-phone to its roster for $50 to new subscribers and $150 for existing customers who want to upgrade and agree to the new two-year contract. Mobile ESPN’s other handset, the Sanyo Electronics Co. Ltd. MVP, is free after a $30 mail-in rebate.
