Fans of cornhole, darts, billiards and, of course, dodgeball can now watch coverage of all these sports any time of day as ESPN8: The Ocho has been made into an official channel. And best of all, it's entirely free.
ESPN8: The Ocho started out as a joke in the 2004 comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, an offshoot channel of ESPN where obscure sports air. Well, Dodgeball became a comedy classic and ESPN looked to capitalize on the idea, usually arranging a special day of programming for more obscure sports coverage each year that they dubbed ESPN8: The Ocho. But now, they are expanding that to a new 24/7, FAST (free advertising-supported television) channel that requires no sign-in to start watching, making it the first-ever ESPN FAST channel to go with its cable channels and ESPN Plus streaming service.
"It's a bold strategy, Cotton!"ESPN8: The Ocho is now ESPN's first FAST channel Watch a variety of seldom seen sports 24/7, through the ABC app & https://t.co/nMlrx26VjW pic.twitter.com/FkWkrujPJkDecember 20, 2023
According to ABC.com, interested viewers can watch ESPN8: The Ocho on the ABC app on a smartphone or tablet, ABC.com on their computer or even on TV, accessing the ABC app on Roku devices, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV.
We tried it out. All we had to do was click this link and we were taken to ESPN8: The Ocho, which at the time was airing a match from the Professional Cuesports League (billiards). It wasn't clear if this was live or previously recorded.
As you can see in the social media post from ESPN's PR, other "seldom seen sports" that are going to air on ESPN8: The Ocho include kickball, axe throwing, cornhole, dog surfing, wiffleball, stone skipping, foosball, sign spinning, spikeball, table tennis, table hockey, slippery stairs and even pillow fighting.
ESPN has long been the biggest sports provider in the US, though as a cable channel, it required either a traditional pay-TV subscription or a live TV streaming service that carried the channel in order to watch, though most included the network as part of the basic packages as it carried NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and college sporting events that draw many viewers.
Some of the obscure sports set to appear on ESPN8: The Ocho would occasionally pop up on ESPN2 or some of the other ancillary cable channels, and the network’s streaming service, while ESPN Plus would also have live streams of major and smaller sports. But with ESPN8: The Ocho, these more obscure sports have a permanent home that is easily available for anyone interested.
We guess we just have to wait for the dodgeball tournament featured in Dodgeball to be on.
