Is tonight's basketball game seriously only on ESPN3?

Submitted by julesh on

This is two P5 teams (I know, doesn't count as much in basketball), one of whom is ranked. And we can't even get it on TV? As a DirecTV subscriber, I'm just glad I have a friend who has given me his Comcast login. 

MGoBoard

Wolverine Devotee

November 24th, 2014 at 11:00 AM ^

Yes, it's only ESPN3.

No, you do not need a cable provider password. It's an ESPN3-exclusive.

You'd only need a password if the game was on a TV station and you wanted to watch on the computer.

Luckily for many (and myself because ESPN3's quality sucks), this week will be the final week of Michigan games that aren't on a normal TV station. Tonight's game obviously and Saturday against Nicholls State (BTN Plus).

Joined: 06/29/2009

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youn2948

November 24th, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^

Charter for internet, thought I'd tried it but I may try again next time it's a locked stream.  Thanks for the heads up.  I know when I had ATT uverse only a few years ago for internet it wouldn't take that login and/or said I wasn't subscribed for the right package.

Joined: 05/28/2010

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Tate

November 24th, 2014 at 10:58 AM ^

Yeah, it sucks. And what's even worse is that the Iowa State vs Alabama game got the ESPN2 timeslot.

I said in the other thread, if you have the WatchESPN app on a tablet, Xbox 360/One, or something of the sort, I would highly reccomend watching on that instead of a laptop. Now this could be me, but when I watch on my 360, the quality is perfect and there is no lag; my laptop is awful, half the time it doesnt even load and when it does the quality is very poor.

Joined: 01/11/2013

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LSAClassOf2000

November 24th, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^

I believe you'd be able to see it on ESPN3 later if you aren't able to watch it tonight. The BTN schedule going forward into this week, which I believe includes some of the games it intends to replay, does not currently list this one. I don't know if it is because of the nature of whatever reciprocating agreement the networks have or if it simply hasn't been updated. It seems like sometimes ESPN's agreements with various conferences allow for the content to be rebroadcast on one station but not the other, but it is hard to imagine this being an issue with the Pac-12 and Big Ten involved here. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

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mgobluth

November 24th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^

If you like following twitter during games, don't do it when games are on ESPN3. Generally the people at the game on twitter are 1-2 minutes ahead of the stream. 

Joined: 11/23/2014

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bluesalt

November 24th, 2014 at 11:36 AM ^

ESPN is trying to draw more people to their streamed broadcasts, so that they can cut out the middleman of cable/satellite distribution companies (and instead deal with the middleman of ISP's who are largely the same companies, but whatever.) To do this, they need content that will actually draw viewers to their platform, and November non- conference games between two power conference tourney teams is a good way to do it, especially when one of those teams has a huge fan base like we do. It may seem like a demotion, but really it's ESPN trying to use us to evolve towards a new business model.

Joined: 11/02/2011

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bluesalt

November 24th, 2014 at 2:31 PM ^

Perhaps the set-up was when ESPN got the rights to this tournament from the orgnanizers the agreement was they'd show it on ESPN3, but make it available to all users and not those with a cable subscription only. They agreed to something similar to this distribution format in th new NBA deal; all NBA games shown on ESPN beginning in the 2016-2017 season will be shown online with universal access (at least in the US). ESPN knows it's pretty much the only thing keeping the cable industry alive -- makes perfect sense they'd want to look into transitioning to new distribution methods. An important method of testing viability is to show better online-only live sports, as opposed to events they'd never put on their main networks anyway.

Joined: 11/02/2011

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GOBLUE4EVR

November 24th, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^

that last week channel 20 in the metro Detroit area showed the Oakland U game that was on ESPN 3... i checked channel 20 on Friday or Saturday and no such luck this time...

Joined: 01/09/2009

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