ESPN Goal Line & Bases Loaded
ESPN Goal Line & ESPN Bases Loaded is a gametime-only cable channel operated by ESPN which launched on September 4, 2010. The channel was active during two college sports seasons; during college football season as ESPN Goal Line and through the NCAA Division I Softball Championship for college softball and NCAA Division I Baseball Championship for college baseball as ESPN Bases Loaded. In both cases, the coverage provided live look-ins and analysis of multiple games in progress. The coverage switched between games to show interesting defensive plays and scoring drives, such as offensive teams entering the red zone (football) or with runners on base (baseball/softball).
| ESPN Goal Line & ESPN Bases Loaded | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Launched | September 4, 2010 |
| Closed | January 13, 2020 (final program) June 30, 2020 (contractual sunsetting) |
| Owned by | ESPN Inc. (The Walt Disney Company (80%) Hearst Communications (20%)) |
| Picture format | 720p (HDTV) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | American English |
| Headquarters | Bristol, Connecticut |
| Sister channel(s) | |
Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Dish Network | Channel 403 (HD/SD) |
| DirecTV | Channel 615 (HD) |
| Cable | |
| Available on select cable systems | Check local listings |
| Altice USA | Channel 248 (HD) |
| IPTV | |
| AT&T U-verse | Channel 613 (SD) Channel 1613 (HD) |
| Verizon FiOS | Channel 829 (HD) |
| Streaming media | |
| WatchESPN & ESPN App | Live simulcast (U.S. pay-TV subscribers only) |
| Sling TV | Internet Protocol Television |
| Hulu with Live TV | Internet Protocol Television |
During college football season, Goal Line operated from 3:00 p.m. ET to approximately 11:30 p.m. on Saturdays during the regular season, and was also used as part of Megacast coverage of College Football Playoff games as an alternate feed, usually as a "datacast" feed of extended data. The network was additionally simulcast on ESPNews in the late afternoon or early evening, if the channel was not carrying its own games. Bases Loaded operated during the early rounds of the NCAA Softball & Baseball Championship.
At its launch, the channel was made available to customers of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks systems,[1] and became available soon after to customers of Verizon FiOS TV.[2] In addition, the channel is also carried on Dish Network, Comcast, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, Sling TV, Cablevision, Hulu and DirecTV.
The channel formerly operated a version of the service during the college basketball season known as ESPN Buzzer Beater, which broadcast on Wednesday nights and Saturdays from December to early March. In July 2017, ESPN announced that it had discontinued Buzzer Beater, in order to "shift resources to better position ourselves for the long-term". The Goal Line and Bases Loaded services were not affected by this change.[3]
Officially, the network's last program was the 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship on January 13, 2020, when it again carried the DataCast channel for ESPN's Megacast coverage.
Network closing
The 2020 version of Bases Loaded would never occur, due to the coronavirus pandemic causing the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA baseball and softball seasons, including their associated baseball and softball tourneys; the cancellation was announced on March 12, 2020. One day after on March 13, Disney Media Distribution sent notice to providers that the network would be discontinued on June 30, 2020, with notice of it relayed to customers between late May and mid June.[4] The discontinuation was thought of as a foregone conclusion, as ESPN pushes viewers to its streaming service, ESPN+, which allows the customer the choice of following any ESPN/ABC-aired game at their own pace, along with overall network cutbacks of extraneous wireline networks and connected on-air staff. With no other programming to promote, since March 13, the channel space has merely carried a looping video of the ESPN logo with a loop of audio of the network's default NCAA championship feed in the background.
References
- ESPN and Time Warner Cable Launch New College Football Live Cut-In and Highlights Channel – ESPN Goal Line
- Verizon FiOS, Disney, ESPN Media Networks Group Ink Advanced Media Carriage Pact – Multichannel News
- "ESPN Shutters One of Its Channels to Cut Costs". The Wrap. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
- "Re: Notice of Discontinuation of ESPN Goal Line and ESPN Bases Loaded". Letter from ESPN to the National Cable Television Cooperative. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
See also
- NFL RedZone, a similar channel operated by the NFL Network
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