ESPN Finalizes World Cup coverage across platforms
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By Carolyn Braff
As the final digits wane on the World Cup kickoff countdown, ESPN/ABC Sports finds itself fully prepared to take on what some have dubbed the biggest event on the planet.
We continue to be in as good a position as we possibly can for an event like this, ESPN/ABC Sports Senior Vice President Jed Drake said in a media conference call on Wednesday.
As the anchor to its trio of coverage platforms, ESPN and ABC Sports will, for the first time, present every World Cup match live in High Definition television. All television coverage will also be available online through the ESPN 360 broadband service, and the network s Mobile ESPN service will provide automatic updates to alert soccer fans as goals are scored.
ESPN is working across platforms to make the most amount of information available to the widest audience as quickly as possible. This event is the biggest sporting event in the world, explained Tim Scanlan, ESPN/ABC senior coordinating producer for World Cup coverage. The sports fan will want this information no matter where they re at and no matter what device they can get it on. With Mobile ESPN, ESPN 360, soccernet.com, 47 World Cup live programs all in HD, 12 in-between shows, and ABC sports pre-game shows, update-hungry soccer fans will have a veritable grab-bag of devices and media to choose from.
People want this information, and we are here to serve the fans, Drake added. We will serve them in any way that we possibly can.