ESPN360.com Now Available On Campus
10/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
ESPN has unveiled the re-imagined, new-look version of ESPN360.com, the
company's signature, next-generation broadband sports network. ESPN360.com is
now available free from Dartmouth.edu IP addresses thanks to an agreement
between ESPN and Dartmouth Athletics.
Students, faculty and staff will have access to an online sports video
network that provides unparalleled broadband coverage of full-length, live and often
exclusive games from the top college sports in the country. Live college events
will include football, basketball, hockey, lacrosse, baseball, soccer,
wrestling and swimming & diving.
ESPN360.com will also cover live events from domestic and international professional
sports leagues including but not limited to basketball, auto racing, tennis, soccer,
polo, rugby, football and other sports.
“We are excited to partner with
ESPN to provide this access to the
The new look compliments a new programming strategy, which transforms
the growing service into a 24/7 live sports destination online, dramatically increasing
its live programming ? delivering more than 2,000 live sports events in the
next 12 months, more than ESPN and ESPN2 combined. The dynamic new user interface delivers those
events with highly improved video quality, expanded controls (including
live-event pause, rewind and fast forward), and easy navigation between multiple,
simultaneous live sporting events.
“This new digital network will deliver a comprehensive lineup of up to 10 simultaneous games through an easy-to-use design, delivering tremendous value to sports fans and our distribution partners,” said John Kosner, senior vice president and general manager, ESPN Digital Media.
New-Look ESPN360.com
The new ESPN360.com user interface delivers a sleek, simplified design,
giving consumers broadly expanded control over their broadband sports viewing
experience. With the ability to deliver up
to 10 simultaneous live events, the fans are at the helm of their own virtual
live sports control room ? able to view the event of their choice in a main
viewing window, while other events continue to play in smaller, live-action thumbnails. Recently completed events will also
be available for replay.
“Creating a simple, elegant interface that is capable of
delivering an enormous lineup of live sports is a bold first step,” said Jeff
Cravens, vice president and general manager, ESPN360.com. “We'll continue to seek out ways to deliver
the best broadband experience to fans by marrying technological advancement and
quality programming.”
Additionally, the new interface allows fans to see a full programming
guide of current live events, recent events available for replay, and upcoming
events. The main viewing window delivers a
high-quality 640 x 360 image that can be displayed in a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio.
The window can also be expanded to full screen or reduced to a compact size.
Advancing Quality
& User Control for Live Online Sports
The new ESPN360.com delivers dramatically enhanced video quality,
advancing the fan experience for live sports online
in much the same way ESPN's ground-breaking ESPN Motion video technology did
for on-demand online video in 2002.
Not only does ESPN360.com deliver reliable, television-quality video,
but it will enhance user controls as well.
Fans are able to pause live events and navigate the video with rewind and
fast-forward controls ? similar to digital video recorder functionality. A single click returns the fan to live action.
Delivering an image up to 400 percent larger than before, the new
ESPN360.com dynamically adjusts to allow for maximum picture quality based on both
the individual user's available computer processing power and bandwidth
(transitioning smoothly as bandwidth increases, drops or is interrupted). Further, it can deliver multiple live streams
on a single page and enables ESPN to explore HD-like presentation of live
sports online in coming months.
ESPN360.com
Programming Expansion
As the first full-time, multi-sport, live sports broadband network,
ESPN360.com will feature thousands of hours of live online coverage from a
broad array of sports, spanning a global lineup of games and events including
(but not limited to):
? College Football
?
College basketball
?
College hockey
?
College lacrosse
?
College baseball and softball
?
Global and
?
NBA
?
NASCAR (Nextel Cup and Busch Series)
?
Global rugby
?
Global cricket
?
Tennis (including majors: French and Australian Opens,
?
Open-wheel racing (IRL, Champ Car)
?
Canadian Football League
?
Arena Football League
?
Major League Lacrosse
?
Global baseball (Mexican, Venezuelan, Dominican, Israeli, more)
?
Mexican college football (ONEFA)
?
Polo (
?
Sports press conferences
Technical
considerations
?
ESPN360.com is web site that streams all of our events via a caching
technology from our content delivery network.
?
ESPN will not offer students the ability to “download” a file for future
use; all of the events are intended to be viewed from the web service.
?
ESPN360.com is no more bandwidth intensive than any other web site offering
quality video streams.
? Upon their first visit to ESPN360.com, users will be prompted to download a small client application (~5MB) from our partner, Move Networks, in order to watch the streamed events. (Note: This application is only required to be downloaded once.)
