MobileESPN, R.I.P: 2005 - 2006

Whoa Nellie. The folks who scooped Disney's ESPN-branded cellphone service -- MobileESPN -- are now calling for "big changes" in the MVNO. According to Rafat Ali and Staci Kramer who cite "numerous sources," the doomed MobileESPN MVNO is set for "a phased winding down/transition, or getting sold" outright this week, just before Disney's fiscal year draws to a close. A spokeswoman for MobileESPN confirmed an announcement was coming, most likely on Thursday, and that staff would not be laid off this week contrary to rumors. Merrill Lynch already asked Disney to pull the plug in a research note published back in July estimating that MobileESPN had only snagged 30,000 of the 240,000 anticipated subscribers since its Superbowl launch representing a loss of some $135 million for The Mouse. All this is potentially bad news for the likes of Amp'd Mobile and Helio who may be in for an MVNO backlash on The Street where investor sentiment is already pretty low. Oh BJ, not you and the Bear too?

Update: Just minutes after we posted the article above, Disney officially dropped the ax on MobileESPN, and the happiest place on earth is just a little bit gloomier today. According to an open letter on the MobileESPN homepage, cellular service will stop as of December 21st, although all that great content that you handful of subscribers have come to enjoy day in and day out will soon be available through one of the major carriers. Meanwhile, existing customers are free to drop the service anytime before the end of the year without penaltly, and once your bills are all paid up, the soon-to-be-defunct MVNO will refund the full cost of your handset. Epitaph: MobileESPN, we had such high hopes for ye, but your glass jaw made a first round KO inevitable. R.I.P, sweet, failed telecom experiment.

[Via GigaOM]

[Rick Lyon @ Sep 28th 2006 12:04PM]

Damn I wish I understood the acronyms used (quoted) on this site, I feel outdated.

[Kspraydad @ Sep 28th 2006 12:03PM]

ESPN has already posted the fact that they are winding down.

http://mobile.espn.go.com/

[Arno @ Sep 28th 2006 12:17PM]

That's because it's too expensive. I would have got it in a heartbeat if it didn't cost like $100 a month for decent service. I love SportsCenter that much.

[Galley @ Sep 28th 2006 12:17PM]

I just hope they go with Sprint. I'd gladly pay $7-10 per month for their service. I have an A900, so I know it's compatible with my device.

[flamer's grill @ Sep 28th 2006 12:22PM]

Wow, Kspraydad is right. Already thrown in the towel. December 31st, 2006 will be the last day of service: then, after you pay your final bill, they will refund the purchase price of the handset. You also can terminate service w/o an early termination fee.

What went wrong? Let's speculate. Saturated cellular marketplace. Unappealing launch device (Sanyo MVP) and the Samsung ACE debuting way too late to make any sort of impact. Expensive plans and services. Best Buy exclusive.

Marketing snafu: marketed towards teens and yuppy thirtysomethings - teens, who have no control over their cell phones, as their parents pay for everything; yuppies who prefer a business device with entertainment capabilities over an entertainment device.

Personally, I am pleased. Disney most likely spent a ton of money contracting the development of the mobileESPN interface - now that their MVNO is gone, they can just sell it (or a watered-down version of it) as a content download for existing carriers. I think I'd pay $10 a month for a mobileESPN add-on for my pocket pc, with maybe the option of paying for live games on a per-diem basis. There is money to be made here - I just think they went about it the wrong way.

[Davy Fields @ Sep 28th 2006 5:51PM]

What an unbelievable waste of resources on the half of espn. They've been using "MobileESPN alerts" in baseball tonight and sports center for the past half dozen months, not to mention wasting tons of ad space on the commercials.

I think ESPN is feeling a little skittish right now because they're having a hard time making anything new stick. ESPNInsiders doing... okay.... ESPN the Mags doing... okay. There's no growth in these new segments, they're just throwing stuff out and hoping something sticks. ESPNZone anyone?

[SubGenius @ Sep 28th 2006 1:23PM]

SOLD to the gentleman in the black turtleneck!

[Tim UF @ Sep 28th 2006 1:48PM]

yeah, just too much cost for the service. Though, i imagine that Sprint/Nextel will pick it up, since you can get the ESPN phones at Sprint stores anyway...

[O.I. @ Sep 28th 2006 7:29PM]

What then, is their pentalty for breaking their contract with their customers early? The refund? Do the customers get to keep the phones, and if so, will they work with another service?

[Craig @ Sep 28th 2006 1:57PM]

i caught the last half of an ad for a disney mobile service aimed at families... it lets you track your kids' location via gps. i didn't look into any further than that, but i think it's safe to say that disney isn't through with the mvno concept

[Zadillo @ Sep 28th 2006 2:02PM]

This doesn't surprise me, I guess.

Personally I really liked the Mobile ESPN interface itself; I have to admit, I came very close to getting one of these phones just to have it, even though I already have a Treo.

I would definitely pay a monthly fee or something to have a version of the Mobile ESPN interface (which seemed really slick to me) for my Treo. It seemed a lot nicer than ESPN's plain WAP interface, especially for viewing boxscores and live games, etc.

[mauro @ Sep 28th 2006 3:49PM]

Sounds like Jobs is doing alot of backword on the disney board, OUT with espn, IN with iPhone and content!

[Jeff Foster @ Sep 28th 2006 4:08PM]

meh. i say good riddance.

[Paul @ Sep 28th 2006 4:26PM]

Not that i use it.. but anyways..

It actually says on the press release "Before the end of the year, Mobile ESPN will contact all customers with details about future service options to assist in the transition to the new home of Mobile ESPN"

So it aint dead. It's moving Mobile providers. You might want to update the article to reflect that.