14 DAY TRIAL // ESPN is relaunching its service for mobile phones through Verizon Wireless and will deliver its feed of sports scores, news and video content through a top industry player, not its own wireless brand.
Last September ESPN execs announced that they were giving up Mobile ESPN as a standalone cell phone company, maybe because of the company signing up less than 30,000 customers.
Verizon sees this as an opportunity to attract subscribers into using the V CAST service. "Not all people with V Cast-capable handsets use V Cast. We expect ESPN will drive additional adoption," the Verizon executive said.
The multiyear agreement that is to give Verizon Wireless exclusive rights to offer the mobile ESPN application in the US, available for the carrier's V CAST mobile phones, was expected to be announced on Thursday but at that moment, the deal was not yet finalized, according to executives from both companies.
Aside from that, the two companies also planned to announce that the broadcast TV service Verizon plans to introduce will also include an ESPN channel with pretty much the same programming that is being shown on its sports cable network. The service will be offered by Verizon over MediaFLO, which can broadcast 20 channels, by the end of March.
The mobile ESPN service is expected to launch in the following months and will be included, with no additional cost, in the V CAST service that has a $15 monthly or $3 day fee.
According to a Verizon executive, the application will be adapted to all the V CAST-enabled mobile phones, starting with perhaps a couple of models at the outset. The two companies have not disclosed the financial terms or exact length of the deal so far.