ESPN Launches 15 College-Conference Streaming Channels in Advance of Championship Week
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Just in time for the tip-off of Championship Week, ESPN is launching 15 conference-specific digital channels via its WatchESPN authenticated streaming platform. The digital channels, which can be streamed on televisions via Apple TV and Roku OTT devices, will aggregate conference-related programming from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN3 and ESPNEWS.
The 15 conference-branded channels will deliver live men’s and women’s college basketball events from across ESPN networks, as well as replays of college football games. They will also be accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets and other connected devices via WatchESPN at a later date.
Conference channels at launch include: ACC, America East, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Big West, HBCUs (Mid-Eastern Athletic, Southwestern Athletic and Central Intercollegiate Athletic) Horizon, Mid-American, Metro Atlantic Athletic, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Southern, Sun Belt and Southland.
“With the rapid adoption of connected devices and the rising popularity of WatchESPN, we are able to offer college conferences the opportunity to have their own branded destinations for live events and on-demand video on a nationwide level,” says Damon Phillips, VP, WatchESPN & ESPN3. “ESPN provides scale and discoverability to deliver these channels in a way that would not have been possible without WatchESPN.”
Later this year, the channels on WatchESPN will include live college football, Olympic event and non-event (news, highlights, analysis and feature) programming plus on-demand video clips from ESPN.com.
“These new conference channels on WatchESPN will showcase the breadth and depth of our college sports coverage,” says Rosalyn Durant, VP, College Sports Programming, ESPN. “But most importantly, they will allow us to better serve the fans.”
Later this year, the channels on WatchESPN will include live college football, Olympic event and non-event (news, highlights, analysis and feature) programming plus on-demand video clips from ESPN.com.
ESPN is slated to deliver a total of more than 2,000 live men’s and women’s college basketball games through Championship Week in the 2013-14 season across its networks – all of which are accessible on WatchESPN. Specifically, ESPN3 – ESPN’s live multi-screen sports network – will deliver 570 exclusive men’s and women’s college basketball games this season, up 50 percent compared to the previous year.
