With contentious distribution talks now in the past, Dish Network moved ahead Tuesday with the launch of a handful of authenticated TV Everywhere apps from The Walt Disney Company stable, including WatchESPN, WATCH ABC, WATCH ABC Family, WATCH Disney Channel, and WATCH Disney XD.
Those apps, which feature both on-demand and live feeds from those respective networks, are now available to Dish’s 14 million pay-TV subs on a range of supported devices, which, depending on the app, include iOS and Android smartphones tablets, PC browsers, the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Roku and Apple TV devices, and other IP-connected platforms.
Access to the live network streams of ABC are currently limited to Dish subs accessing them in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, Fresno, Philadelphia, and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. Dish subs, however, can watch new episodes of ABC and ABC Family originals the day after they air online at ABC.com and ABCFamily.com, or on the smartphone and tablet apps.
Live events and programming from ESPN’s networks – including the flagship channel, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPNEWS and ESPN Deportes – are also accessible to Dish subs. ESPN Goal Line and ESPN Buzzer Beater will also be available on WatchESPN when those channels are in season.
The launches come roughly a month after Dish and Disney reached a new long-term carriage deal last month that included provisions in which Dish agreed to curb the use of its controversial AutoHop ad-skipping feature and ABC agreed to drop its lawsuit against the satellite TV service provider.
The landmark deal also factored in expanded streaming rights that clear the way for Dish to offer an “Internet delivered, IP-based multichannel offering.
