Mobile ESPN Will End Service

Unable to attract enough customers, Mobile ESPN said yesterday that it would shut its mobile phone service aimed at sports fans at the end of the year. The company said it would focus instead on selling its real-time scores and video to existing cellular providers.
Mobile ESPN plans to focus on selling real-time scores and video to existing cellular providers.
The shift in strategy is a sign of the difficulty in attracting new cellular customers at a time when more than 70 percent of consumers already have an existing plan. Despite carrying exclusive material, Mobile ESPN was unable to compete with Cingular Wireless and other national carriers that offer customers the option of paying as little as $10 a month to join family plans.
National carriers, particularly Sprint, have also been providing sports content to their customers — often free or for a few dollars a month. The cheapest monthly plan from Mobile ESPN, by contrast, is $40 a month.
Getting consumers to abandon their current calling plan and switch to ESPN’s “proved to be harder than we assumed,” said Salil Mehta, executive vice president for ESPN Enterprises. “What you’re hearing from us now is that by licensing the product you reduce a significant number of barriers” to finding customers.