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More than 600 Hours of Historic Sports Events Available to DISH Customers by Late October

Beginning today, nostalgic fans wishing to relive and share their favorite sports moments will be able to access more than 600 hours of events from ESPN Classic on-demand, anytime directly from their set top boxes by the end of the month. The launch is ESPN’s largest on-demand content offering and a significant turning point in ESPN Classic’s 19-year history. DISH is the affiliated video provider at launch.

“As fans continue to evolve the way they consume content, making ESPN Classic an on-demand offering is the logical next step,” said David Preschlack, Executive Vice President of Affiliate Sales and Marketing for Disney and ESPN Media Networks. “It is a powerful consumer proposition and a great example of how we are collaborating with our partners to free up bandwidth, allowing them to better serve customers.”

Archived programming of memorable moments available to fans nationwide through the new service will follow the seasonality and relevancy of each sport year-round. At launch, this includes classic college football and college basketball games leading up to the College Football Playoff and NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, respectively. Some events that will be made available through the end of the year include:

• College Football – more than 200 games highlighted by the last five BCS Championship games, all-time great bowl games such as the 1973 Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame vs. Alabama and marquee rivalries including Florida State vs. Miami.
• College Basketball – more than 50 games through 2014 alone, highlighted by a dozen Jimmy V Classic events to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Jimmy V tournament, including Indiana vs. UNC in 1999, Duke vs. Kentucky in 2001, Michigan State vs. Syracuse in 2010, Jimmy V’s legendary speech and more.

DISH customers that receive ESPN networks as part of their video subscription will have immediate access to on-demand programming from ESPN Classic. A digital content offering through WatchESPN is slated to launch in early 2015.

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