ESPN is getting into the cellphone business next year with Sprint, selling wireless subscriptions to sports fans under its own brand, “ESPN Mobile.”
The Wall Street Journal reports the deal as the biggest entry of a company with no telephone background into the American cellular industry.
Disney owns the majority of ESPN and believes the two brands can be deployed in the wireless market as the market for data, such as news headlines, sports scores and stock quotes, takes off, according to the Journal.
Cellphone customers now can receive ESPN services, such as scores and headlines, on the phones of most major wireless carriers. ESPN says it will offer phones that won’t require multiple click-throughs for the user to get to the sports information.
ESPN Mobile calls would travel over the Sprint cellular network.
ESPN to Launch Branded Cellphones
ESPN to Launch Branded Cellphones