Just in time for Andrew’s article this past weekend about the rise of online video, ESPN has said that it will make its online video site — ESPN360.com — free for all viewers accessing the site from college campuses and military bases.

Right now, the site — which isn’t a straight video feed of ESPN’s television channels, but rather an eclectic mix of sports like Australian Open tennis, cricket, the Winter X Games and college basketball — is available only to the subscribers of certain ISPs.

In other words, it’s the Internet equivalent of a cable TV channel.

The NY Times article notes that it’s not clear whether that model can be successful online, but I think the business model is less interesting than the fact that ESPN is building an online video distribution system.

The business model will eventually work itself out, but being able to stream online video of any live sporting event, well, that’s a big deal and certainly not something cable and satellite providers are eager to see happen.

After all, if I can easily watch any sport live online for less than I’m paying my cable company, well, I don’t think I’ll want to keep paying my cable company.

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 2:48 pm and is filed under General News.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.