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I no longer get cable, so I don't get ESPN. I live in the US, so the World Cup isn't one of those major things people give a shit about. ESPN is showing the weekday games (Mon-Fri) and 2 of the 3 games Sat & Sun. ABC is picking up the other 2 games.
ESPN has an online video streaming service, which, for the previous World Cup I couldn't utilize because it didn't run on Mac. That was 4 years ago, so, hey, why not give it another shot and see if they fixed it, right?
I checked into it today, only to be met with bullshit of an even more bullshitty variety: ESPN360 can ONLY be accessed through certain ISPs, and there's not even an option to say, "hey, I'll give you money to let me watch this." My ISP, Time Warner, isn't one of them. ESPN tells me I should a) bother TWC until they affiliate with ESPN or b) switch ISPs to AT&T (DSL & slower than my current provider, if it's even available at my address) or Verizon (whose service I've never heard ANYTHING good about.)
This means I won't be able to watch ANY of the games I'm interested in in the round of 64 and very few of the round of 16, quarterfinals*, or semifinals. Watching via text-based liveticker on spiegel.de ... is SO not the same.
*(Two quarterfinal matches and the finals are playing on ABC.)
Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
(OK, I know one person* who has cable, but the games are playing at 7 am, 9:30 am, and 2 pm local time. Not exactly conducive to popping over to borrow the TV & cable. Also not conducive to popping into a restaurant or bar to watch the game.)
*Seriously, of all the people I spend any time with, I pretty much only know one who has cable.
ESPN has an online video streaming service, which, for the previous World Cup I couldn't utilize because it didn't run on Mac. That was 4 years ago, so, hey, why not give it another shot and see if they fixed it, right?
I checked into it today, only to be met with bullshit of an even more bullshitty variety: ESPN360 can ONLY be accessed through certain ISPs, and there's not even an option to say, "hey, I'll give you money to let me watch this." My ISP, Time Warner, isn't one of them. ESPN tells me I should a) bother TWC until they affiliate with ESPN or b) switch ISPs to AT&T (DSL & slower than my current provider, if it's even available at my address) or Verizon (whose service I've never heard ANYTHING good about.)
This means I won't be able to watch ANY of the games I'm interested in in the round of 64 and very few of the round of 16, quarterfinals*, or semifinals. Watching via text-based liveticker on spiegel.de ... is SO not the same.
*(Two quarterfinal matches and the finals are playing on ABC.)
Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
(OK, I know one person* who has cable, but the games are playing at 7 am, 9:30 am, and 2 pm local time. Not exactly conducive to popping over to borrow the TV & cable. Also not conducive to popping into a restaurant or bar to watch the game.)
*Seriously, of all the people I spend any time with, I pretty much only know one who has cable.
