Blurring the Line
I’ve never noticed this before tonight. ABC’s Saturday night College Football coverage has ESPN’s graphics.
It was a bit confusing as I switched back and forth between FLA-Kentucky on ESPN and then ND and Michigan State on ABC. The music bed and graphics coming out of the commercial break on ABC is exactly the same as the one on ESPN, including the ESPN name brand and graphics instead of ABC.
Now the ND game is also on ESPN2 in certain parts of the country. So it seems that ABC is just grabbing that broadcast and putting it on the network channels.
I know they’re owned by the same parent company, but it just seems a bit strange to see this line blurred. Maybe they’ve done this before, but it’s the first time I’ve seen one of the big three (or four) using a cable channel’s content and graphics.
ABC has turned all of it’s sports production to ESPN. I believe it is now known as “ESPN on ABC.” ESPN now produces all sports for ABC and they obviously cross promote. ESPN stands for Essentially Self Promotional Network. Ok I made that last part up.
Blake Johnson
September 25, 2006 at 1:16 am