ESPN + is a joke

[upperdeck]

I'm sorry but that's not acceptable. We should not be regressing severely in quality just to provide more access. I could've watched this exact same game a decade ago on the ACC Regional Sports Network and it would have been an actual produced television broadcast with announcers instead of the cobbled together mess they just put on ESPN+.

Yup and it would have sold ads to try and recover the costs.

It also might not been on 10 yrs ago. it does blur when games on became more the norm than the exception. In the 80s we started to see more games on for sure but they were not widely shown if you lived outside the local area

 

[shandeezy7]

Yup and it would have sold ads to try and recover the costs.

It also might not been on 10 yrs ago. it does blur when games on became more the norm than the exception. In the 80s we started to see more games on for sure but they were not widely shown if you lived outside the local area

I posted earlier in the thread that every game but 4 was available on a national broadcast network and/or streaming network for the 13/14 season. The 4 games not available nationally were on the ACC Regional Sports Network, which was basically available on most of the East Coast (and may have also been available on ESPN3, subject to blackout). This game likely would have been one of those four, which means I would absolutely have been able to watch it.

 

[Bayside44]

Yup and it would have sold ads to try and recover the costs.

It also might not been on 10 yrs ago. it does blur when games on became more the norm than the exception. In the 80s we started to see more games on for sure but they were not widely shown if you lived outside the local area

The original thread title was about ESPN Plus. The amount of content they have is incredible, for a few bucks a month. Sounds like this may could change when ESPN streams.

 

[jgeorge322]

People are bitching because a service they're paying for through a subscription or added to their cable package is subpar. Go get your free taco today, you've earned it. Maybe they'll give you another one.

The only thing I love more than one free taco is two free tacos.

 

[Dinkyspond]

I like being able to back up 30 seconds to rewatch a play. I've largely given up doing that on NHL games because I either back up ten minutes inadvertently, it boots me all the way back to the beginning, or - the one which happened to me during the basketball game last night - it kicks me out of the app completely and I need to reload completely.

same problem here, the DVR feature is terrible on it

 

[bnoro]

I’m sick of this death by a thousand cuts, piecemeal television bs. Back in the day, there was one cable bill and you knew what you were paying every month. Now, I have to look at my bank statements to count how many different services i’m playing for, hope I’m not paying for things I forgot I’m still subscribed to….

What’s the limit? Kinda feels like they know we all have a conscious limit—how much total we would pay for services, but they know we don’t know how much we’re paying because we only see the costs in chunks.

This was going to happen as soon as people started cutting the cord. Bundling everything together in one cable package kept costs (fairly) down. Now, these companies know they can charge whatever and people will pay it.

MSGGo is $30 a month and that shows just a few teams!

 

[TheHaze315]

5-10 years ago, we couldnt even watch every game… now we can access every game in HD on unbelievable tvs… people love to b****

So because we now have access to every game we shouldn’t complain about a high school project level production? Syracuse is supposed to be one of the if not the best school in this exact thing, and it looked horrible for both exhibitions and both regular season games.

 

[upperdeck]

Mine looked fine.. the occasional goof is not unexpected though.

I have had worse with youtube ST than I have from ESPN+ this year.

But I agree the teams can make sure its a better production for sure.

 

[cto]

So because we now have access to every game we shouldn’t complain about a high school project level production? Syracuse is supposed to be one of the if not the best school in this exact thing, and it looked horrible for both exhibitions and both regular season games.

How many times do I have to say this? The Newhouse School had ZERO to do with this production. ESPN had broadcast rights, and it was their production, including the choice to use a radio feed .. rather than tv broadcasters

 

[Jeremy L.]

How many times do I have to say this? The Newhouse School had ZERO to do with this production. ESPN had broadcast rights, and it was their production, including the choice to use a radio feed .. rather than tv broadcasters

Correct! Outside of the freelancers running cam ops and the full-time directors, EP's, etc., this was all ESPN.

 

[kingtidge]

Correct! Outside of the freelancers running cam ops and the full-time directors, EP's, etc., this was all ESPN.

Is it any surprise?

Look at all the on-air talent they've pink-slipped in the last 5 years... They are focusing on streaming content deals and not on the production value of live events... particulary when you get into the second tier games of D1 athletics (and yes, we are second tier.)

 

[Jeremy L.]

Is it any surprise?

Look at all the on-air talent they've pink-slipped in the last 5 years... They are focusing on streaming content deals and not on the production value of live events... particulary when you get into the second tier games of D1 athletics (and yes, we are second tier.)

Spot on. Go on the ESPN+ app on any given college football Saturday and you can find basically any team on that app. They put the value in on the live events with guys like Chris Fowler, Kirk, etc. on the major network. But they know they'll get people to watch the poorly produced streams because they want to watch the games. Those streams live by the quote, "Make air, not art."

As long as people keep watching, that's what will be produced.

 

[andyw715]

Now, I have to look at my bank statements to count how many different services i’m playing for, hope I’m not paying for things I forgot I’m still subscribed to….

What’s the limit? Kinda feels like they know we all have a conscious limit—how much total we would pay for services, but they know we don’t know how much we’re paying because we only see the costs in chunks.

Unless you can get a great Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal I found it best to just subscribe for a month, to any service, then the next day cancel (so you don't get charged for additional months)**.
Then binge the hell out of it.

Even with the yearly discount you'll find this to be cheaper in the long run as you most likely don't watch one service all year (except those that are like cable replacements ie YTTV/Sling/Hulu Live/etc)

** When possible I use iOS Subscriptions to manage these, very easy to see what is current and when stuff expires.

 

[two3zone]

I really hope I don’t have to hear Matt Park gurgling for two hours.

 

[sutomcat]

Back to the subject of ESPN+...

When Charter/Spectrum and ESPN agreed to a new deal (on 9/11/2023), part of the deal was an agreement to give select Spectrum customers access to premium content from Disney.

As part of the agreement, Disney streaming services will be bundled with some Spectrum cable packages. Disney Plus Basic with ads, which costs $8 a month, will be included with the Spectrum TV Select package, and ESPN Plus will be provided to Spectrum TV Select Plus subscribers. An additional upcoming ESPN streaming service will also be available to Spectrum TV Select subscribers when it launches, though no specific timeline was given.

Various stories said access to Disney+ and ESPN+ would be provided in coming months.

Anyone know what that means? Obviously no one is getting access to the coming ESPN streaming service but I am interested in Disney+ and ESPN+. How much longer am I going to have to wait for these?

I am feeling the siren call of YouTubeTV. If they still had SNY, I would have left a while ago.

 

[kingtidge]

Back to the subject of ESPN+...

When Charter/Spectrum and ESPN agreed to a new deal (on 9/11/2023), part of the deal was an agreement to give select Spectrum customers access to premium content from Disney.

As part of the agreement, Disney streaming services will be bundled with some Spectrum cable packages. Disney Plus Basic with ads, which costs $8 a month, will be included with the Spectrum TV Select package, and ESPN Plus will be provided to Spectrum TV Select Plus subscribers. An additional upcoming ESPN streaming service will also be available to Spectrum TV Select subscribers when it launches, though no specific timeline was given.

Various stories said access to Disney+ and ESPN+ would be provided in coming months.

Anyone know what that means? Obviously no one is getting access to the coming ESPN streaming service but I am interested in Disney+ and ESPN+. How much longer am I going to have to wait for these?

I am feeling the siren call of YouTubeTV. If they still had SNY, I would have left a while ago.

ESPN+ is part of the ESPN streaming app... you have access to plus IF you pay $9.99/mo for the "plus" content (otherwise it shows as blacked out for you / upgrades for Plus for $9.99/mo) Plus include a lot of various streamed sports games - college secondary sports and Euro league soccer like German Bundesliga games, etc.

Sounds like you are supposed to get access to it for free with your charter/spectrum deal...

I have YTTV and have to pay $9.99 a month to get ESPN+.

 

[Nicknack]

My main problem with ESPN+ and why I shutter when I have to watch via this app on my tv is the controls are terrible. On YouTube TV for example, I can pause and come back 30 minutes later. If I get distracted and come back much later and the game is no longer on, when I go to my library, it resumes where I left off. ESPN+ times out much more quickly and I have to start from the beginning. Making it worse is fast forwarding is a chore unlike an app like YouTube TV. I'm surprised more people don't complain about this. I guess it could be due to the fact that most of the sports I watch, I record because I like to play my golf during the day and in the evening, I consume my IPAs while watching my sports.

 

[sutomcat]

ESPN+ is part of the ESPN streaming app... you have access to plus IF you pay $9.99/mo for the "plus" content (otherwise it shows as blacked out for you / upgrades for Plus for $9.99/mo) Plus include a lot of various streamed sports games - college secondary sports and Euro league soccer like German Bundesliga games, etc.

Sounds like you are supposed to get access to it for free with your charter/spectrum deal...

I have YTTV and have to pay $9.99 a month to get ESPN+.

Yes, Spectrum was not happy that its customers were paying a lot to Disney for Disney content and Disney was holding back some of the best stuff even for Spectrum customers paying for TV Select or TV Select Premium packages.

Disney agreed to make these things available to Spectrum customers paying for higher level access 'for free'. It was supposed to happen in a couple of months. A couple of months ago.

Just wondering when that promised access is actually going to happen.

 

[sutomcat]

My main problem with ESPN+ and why I shutter when I have to watch via this app on my tv is the controls are terrible. On YouTube TV for example, I can pause and come back 30 minutes later. If I get distracted and come back much later and the game is no longer on, when I go to my library, it resumes where I left off. ESPN+ times out much more quickly and I have to start from the beginning. Making it worse is fast forwarding is a chore unlike an app like YouTube TV. I'm surprised more people don't complain about this. I guess it could be due to the fact that most of the sports I watch, I record because I like to play my golf during the day and in the evening, I consume my IPAs while watching my sports.

The ESPN app has been relatively crappy from day one and it remains relatively crappy.

They need to license the technology some of the other streaming apps have. Specifically MLB but there might be others as well. Hopefully there is a merger or an acquisition or something soon that results in a vast improvement to the way the ESPN app streams.

I find it shocking how little progress ESPN has made on this when it is clearly becoming a huge part of how customers access content from the company. How hard can it be to make a good app to stream content, live and on demand?

MLB has had a great product for more than a decade. I know they had a head start but at some point, ESPN has to start taking some steps forward here.

 

[FreakTalksAboutSU]

1. Radio guys audio feed? [X]
2. Video feed out of the jumbotron [X]

OK, we're live...

My only issue was, why not keep the camera that is filming the game running during stoppages? Turn off the radio guy's mics if you need to, but show the crowd, show the players on the bench. Seeing the stupid spinning logo for minutes on end, especially while the radio guys are talking, is ridiculous.

 

[sutomcat]

My only issue was, why not keep the camera that is filming the game running during stoppages? Turn off the radio guy's mics if you need to, but show the crowd, show the players on the bench. Seeing the stupid spinning logo for minutes on end, especially while the radio guys are talking, is ridiculous.

It looks like some of these ACCNX broadcasts are running on autopilot.

If I remember correctly, there is only one more ACCNX broadcast scheduled for a home game left (Niagara). The games broadcast on a network get more attention and professional oversight.

Though I think some may be covered with remote broadcasters, which stinks.

 

[0.2 YNdeeR]

My only issue was, why not keep the camera that is filming the game running during stoppages? Turn off the radio guy's mics if you need to, but show the crowd, show the players on the bench. Seeing the stupid spinning logo for minutes on end, especially while the radio guys are talking, is ridiculous.

If this were Newhouse kids learning production skills, I'd be fine with some glitches. But to hear that this level of amateurism is a deliberate strategy by a giant media company... is disappointing to say the least. Every broadcast has been a mess: either the audio is missing; the video is missing; or we're looking at graphics or crowd shots instead of game action. The block "S" is getting tiresome even for a direhard SU fan. The weird part of this is that ACCN broadcasts have usually had good production quality, none of the nonsense we've seen with ESPN+/ACCNX. What gives?

 

[NorSyr66]

It looks like some of these ACCNX broadcasts are running on autopilot.

If I remember correctly, there is only one more ACCNX broadcast scheduled for a home game left (Niagara). The games broadcast on a network get more attention and professional oversight.

Though I think some may be covered with remote broadcasters, which stinks.

You are correct on only the Niagara game being the remaining ACCNX game but I still worry a bit about the few games that are labeled ESPN family. Not sure where those will end up, especially for me here in NC

 

[NorSyr66]

If this was Newhouse kids learning production skills, I'd be fine with some glitches. But to hear that this level of amateurism is a deliberate strategy... is disappointing to say the least. Every broadcast has been a mess: either the audio is missing; the video is missing; or we're looking at graphics instead of game action. The block "S" is getting tiresome even for a direhard SU fan. ACCN broadcasts have had good production quality, none of the nonsense we've seen with ACCNX. What gives?

Double and triple LIKE. The damn block "S" nearly drives me to jump out the window.

 

[Otto21]

MLB is so far ahead of everyone else in this area it’s crazy. I watch NHL games on ESPN+ - going from Center Ice to ESPN+ was a major step backwards in quality.

No idea what Disney needs to do to catch up - I just hope they realize it’s a need.

And that’s just hilarious that a fake sport has better tv quality than basketball where you need to see, vs fall asleep and wake up when someone does something athletic or noteworthy