I did not notice originally that they will have a 12 month subscription option for a slightly reduced price, $50 instead of the monthly rate that will wind up being $60. Although if you are only interested in MLS, a March-October monthly subscription would just be $40. "In addition to the hundreds of NHL and MLB games included in the ESPN+ subscription ($4.99/month, or $49.99/year),... "
Will we get the ~20 minute highlight packages? I loved loved loved those once the league expanded to the point where it became impractical for me to watch many matches.
I don't think anyone knows how the content will be organized. Well, ESPN probably knows but they haven't said anything about it yet.
RIP free streams through the MLS app; although it was glitchy (at least on my phone), it was awesome just firing up a game via the app and casting it to my TV without any strings attached. I may subscribe, depending on how much content is on there. I wonder if they'll give a discount or any kind of incentive for people already with a cable/satellite subscription?
I hope the stream quality is good. I hope there's a way to hide scores. I hope it has condensed games, even if just of the newer 10 minute variety. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.
I get, and approve, of the sentiment, but I wonder if it means anything. I don't think MLS gets any money out of these subscriptions, they got their money when they agreed to sell the rights to ESPN in the last TV contract. Even if no MLS fans sign up will ESPN even notice and associate it with the Crew? Seems like there are more efficient ways to stick it to MLS over the Columbus situation, through a lack of ticket and merchandise purchases.
I don't blame you as I didn't even bother to order the MLS Direct Kick package in 2006 and 2007, and then resumed ordering it in 2008. -G
Why can’t the MLS app simply jump you to the ESPN+ app to watch the game. Keep the highlights, box score etc as is but when you “watch” a game it just jumps you to a different app. Not that hard. I never understood why MLS app couldn’t do that for usoc, preseason etc. it’s just hot links. Extremely easy for them to pull off.
You are correct it is a small measure. The best I can do to get my moneys worth is to whine about it in a public forum.
ESPN wants to drive traffic to ESPN+ via their own app. While you are there you might watch other ESPN programming or at least be more aware of it. If you could watch the games without going through the ESPN app ESPN would not be getting everything they are paying for when they bought the digital rights to MLS.
ESPN3 lets you open any game without seeing the score. You can watch games live or afterward. If the game is live, it will open to where the game is, with the score on the screen unless it is during a commercial or replay. After you open it, you can go to the beginning. I'm assuming the same will be true for ESPN+.
USL, EFL, and UEFA Nations League confirmed for ESPN+ The @USL announces a new broadcast deal with ESPN through 2019:- 1 game per week on ESPN3- 6 games per season on ESPN TV channels- Everything else on ESPN+The USL release notes ESPN+ will have "Major League Soccer, the English Football League and UEFA Nations League."— Jonathan Tannenwald (@thegoalkeeper) April 6, 2018 Link to USL announcement https://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/904986
Any word on how many concurrent streams? This is one of those services where I would like to have family log ins like Spotify or Netflix.
I haven't seen a definite answer on this, but since it is going to be run through the ESPN app I assume that will mean it can be streamed on as many devices as you'd like similar to how you can use WatchESPN currently. I know I've used it on at least 4 devices at once