ESPN Mobile Is Dead
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After less than a year, ESPN is calling it quits on ESPN Mobile, its cellphone service designed specifically for sports fans. The Worldwide Leader will continue providing the service for subscribers until the end of the year, at which time they will help subscribers transfer their phone numbers to other carriers. The news comes on the heels of a note to investors from Merrill Lynch analysts that called for ESPN to "throw in the towel" on the service. Despite an aggressive marketing campaign (Reggie Bush!) and a $150 million investment by ESPN parent company Walt Disney Co., the number of subscribers to ESPN Mobile has only numbered in the tens of thousands. As a result, Disney stands to lose $135 million in the venture, to go along with additional losses from ESPN Mobile's sister service, Disney Mobile.
All of which goes to show that America really wasn't ready to look down at their cell phones and see Trey Wingo staring back at them. As if we needed a marketing flop on the scale of Ishtar to tell us that...
Source
- http://www.deadspin.com/sports/espn/the-final-death-knell-for-espn-mobile-188754.php
- http://apnews.myway.com//article/20060928/D8KDTT0O0.html
- http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002876073
- http://www.thebrushback.com/Archives/espnmobile_full.htm
Date
Thu 09/28/06, 2:50 pm EST
