Yes, this seems to defy all logic, except the real possibility that ESPN is mounting a marketing "pull" campaign that impels their viewers to put pressure on their service providers to add WatchESPN.

--Absolute television corrupts absolutely.

Thats not actually what it says. The article says

"The Worldwide Leader has elected to end the simulcast [emphasis mine] of sporting events shown on ESPN's cable nets [ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU] to ESPN3—a service available to 73 million cable subscribers—and instead restrict those online feeds to viewers whose cable provider subscribes to the WatchESPN service (which reaches about half as many viewers)."

I read that to mean that you'll no longer to watch games that are airing on ESPN via the internet. You'll still be able to watch them on your TV (if you have cable/satellite). Indeed, just in week 1 there are 19 games identified as ESPN3, as is our week2 game against NMSU. If you log into watchespn.com (I tried going to espn3.com and was redirected to watchespn.com) and look at the future programming options, there are literally dozens of college football games listed over the next month. I think all that this change means is that the ESPN3 games are going to be limited to ones that are not being carried on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU.

For the record, my time warner cable does offer watchespn, so maybe it varies by region? That may explain why I'm not seeing a difference, but it has been some time now that espn3.com and watchespn.com redirect to the same portal.

I agree in your interpretation.  As long as the game was going to be on one of the ESPN TV stations it won't be simulcast, which shouldn't be a problem for most of us.  Just watch on your own TV or at a bar, this would only affect people sneaking it at work or something on the internet.  If a game was only going to be on televised on ESPN3 then it would still be televised live on ESPN3.

As mentioned, TWC does offer ESPN3, but they don't offer it to internet-only customers, just those who have TV & internet.

@Steven you may want to check http://espn.go.com/watchespn/blackout?id=559795 and see what it says to you, but I believe you actually could see our Penn State game being in Kansas per their FAQ.

The question will be (and I can't answer) if the blackout times refer to start times, or if the system will lock you out midway through.  I'm unsure if you're in the Central or Mountain time zone, but if you're in Mountain and would be able to test it on the South Carolina Vanderbilt game, that would be tremendously helpful for our figuring out the particulars.

Of course, the site is telling me in one place I can get WatchESPN, then telling me I can't in another.

I'm speaking of my family's provider in Ohio.

I apologize for the panic-induced message. Thank you to everyone for making this clear. I have stepped away from the ledge.

What I understand now is I'll still be able to watch games like New Mexico State on my computer, because it's not going to be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. However, say if I wanted to watch Ohio-Penn State on my computer because I'm at work, I'll be SOL because it's being broadcast on ESPN and my provider doesn't support ESPN Watch.

I noticed this last night. I usually watch SportsCenter/Baseball Tonight on my laptop before bed, but they weren't available.

If I'm understanding the release and everyone's comments correctly, this should only affect our mid-week games (11/1 EMU, 11/7 BG and 11/14 @Ball State). Looks like we'll still have full ability to watch ESPN/2/U online all day Saturday.

Oh wow definitely missed that.

Watching some great HD quality feeds tonight from Kent and Ball State.  Akron's of course looks like crap and isn't even full screen.

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