Last week R. Scott Raynovich’s Contentinople blog posted “Online HD: Coming Faster Than You Think”, in which he shares his surprise at how quickly HD is coming online—and how great it looks. Raynovich is right: HD is coming fast, and in many cases, it’s already here.
For instance, ESPN 360 is streaming tonight’s Lakers vs. Suns game live and in HD to those with ESPN 360 access. This is not the first time HD has been streamed live. Fox and ABC have both streamed live content with Move in the past (Fox streamed the Sarah Conner Chronicles live to rave reviews, the Oscars were streamed live, ABC carried the presidential primaries live, etc.); however, this is the first regular season NBA game to go live with HD.
If your ISP is AT&T, Verizon Communications, RCN, Frontier, Cavalier Telephone & TV, Charter Communications, Mediacom Communications, Conway, Grande Communications or some of the other smaller carriers, you should have access to ESPN 360. (If not, you should ask your cable provider to become part of the family!)
Go to ESPN 360 and check it out! If you can’t watch now, take a look at the other HD events at ABC and FOX. When it comes to high-def online viewing, the future is now.
I agree that the HD video on ABC.com looks great–I’ve been watching LOST exclusively online this season. My question is why must a certain ISP be used in order to access the video on ESPN360? To me, it doesn’t seem like a move that benefits customers.