ESPN’s Where to Watch tries to solve sports’ most frustrating problem

Too often, new tech product or service launches seem like solutions in search of a problem, but not this one: ESPN is launching guide software that lets you figure out just where you can watch the specific sports game you want to see amid an overcomplicated web of streaming services, cable channels, and arcane licensing agreements. Every sports fan is all too familiar with today’s complicated streaming schedules.

Launching today inside both ESPN.com and the various ESPN mobile and streaming device apps, the new guide offers a variety of views, including one that lists all the sporting events in a single day, and a search function, among other things. You can also flag favorite sports or teams to customize those views.

“At the core of Where to Watch is an event database created and managed by the ESPN Stats and Information Group (SIG), which aggregates ESPN and partner data feeds along with originally-sourced information and programming details from more than 250 media sources, including television networks and streaming platforms,” ESPN’s press release says.

ESPN previously offered browsable lists of games like this, but it didn’t identify where you could actually watch all the games.

There’s no guarantee that you’ll actually have access to the services needed to watch the games in the list, though. Those of us who cut the cable cord long ago know that some games—especially those local to your own city—are just not available without cable.

For example, I live walking distance from Wrigley Field, but because I don’t have cable, I can’t watch most Cubs games on any screens in my home. As a former Angeleno, I follow the Dodgers instead because there are no market blackouts for me watching them all the way from Chicago. The reverse would be true if I were back in LA again.

Even if you do have cable, many sports are incredibly convoluted when it comes to figuring out where to watch stuff. ESPN Where to Watch could be useful for the new college football season, for example.

ESPN isn’t the first company to envision this, though. The company to make the most progress up until now was Apple. Apple’s TV device and app was originally meant as a one-stop shop for virtually all streaming video, like a comprehensive 21st-century TV Guide. But with cable companies being difficult to work with and Netflix not participating, Apple never quite made that dream a reality.

It kept trying for sports, though, tying into third-party offerings like the MLB app alongside its own programming to try to make the TV app a place to launch all your games. Apple got pretty close, depending on which sport you’re trying to follow.

ESPN’s app seems a little more promising, as it covers a more comprehensive range of games and goes beyond the TV app’s “what’s happening right now” focus with better search and listings.

ESPN execs have said they hope to start offering more games streaming directly in the app, and if that app becomes the go-to spot thanks to this new guide, it might give the company more leverage with leagues to make that happen.

That could certainly be more convenient for viewers, though there are, of course, downsides to one company having too much influence and leverage in a sport. We’ll see how it all plays out.