ESPN to launch pay-per-view service

This summer, the 24-hour sports network, ESPN, will introduce a new pay-per-view subscription service featuring live sporting events, martial arts programs, fantasy league specials, and movies produced by the sports network’s Original Entertainment division.

Initially, ESPN Pay-Per-View will offer ESPN College Grand Slam, a package of up to 24 games from the Super Regional Round of the NCAA Baseball Championship, available June 6th to June 9th for $19.95. The package will feature 16 of the country’s best college baseball teams vying for a berth in the College World Series. The network said the package is designed to complement ESPN and ESPN2’s live coverage of the Super Regionals and College World Series.

ESPN Pay-Per-View is modeled after ESPN’s existing out-of-market sports subscription services, ESPN GamePlan for college football and ESPN Full Court for college basketball packages. The network plans to provide its affiliated cable and satellite operators with a year-round inventory of ESPN pay-per-view programming.

ESPN Pay-Per-View will also market a series of martial arts title events over the next year and introduce fantasy league specials produced and marketed in conjunction with ESPN.com's extensive initiatives in the fantasy league arena.

Plans also call for ESPN Pay-Per-View to include other sports specials as well as movies from ESPN Original Entertainment and other programs from ESPN’s vast library of content.