Mobile ESPN Returning for Verizon

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Mobile ESPN will resurface as part of Verizon Wireless’ Vcast data service. ESPN and Verizon will provide the sports content application to Verizon Wireless customers who sign up for the carrier’s Vcast data service. The content will be available to Verizon Wireless customers for no additional charge beyond the Vcast monthly subscription.

Mobile ESPN launched in February 2006 using Sprint’s CDMA network, stopped taking customers in October and was completely shut down at the end of the year in favor of licensing the technology and content instead of propping it up as a stand-alone MVNO service.

Along with the Mobile ESPN application, Vcast subscribers also will be able to access ESPN Insider content and fantasy team management, as well as mobile video from ESPN-branded shows such as SportsCenter, Cold Pizza, Outside the Lines and Pardon the Interruption.

In a separate announcement, ESPN and MediaFLO USA Inc. announced a multi-year licensing agreement for an ESPN Mobile TV channel. Verizon Wireless and MediaFLO parent Qualcomm Inc. plan to deploy the mobile TV service in the next few months. Terms of the deal between Verizon Wireless and ESPN were not disclosed.