Sling limits how many devices you can use at once. As does Netflix. Not sure about 3rd party (first party?) providers like the Watch ESPN app and HBO GO, but I'm pretty sure if I am watching Watch ESPN thru my Sling login, it restricts use of Sling on any other device. So you might just be wrong. There is no Watch ESPN login. You are using a login provided by your cable company. There might be language in the TOS indicating that the practice of sharing login info is restricted.
If you think ESPN created the platform of Watch ESPN and restricted access to it only to turn around and not care that people were accessing it for free, than you may be dumber than a brick.
Yes, each company chooses to restrict their streaming devices as they see fit. ESPN chooses not to do so with their app (which is tied to a dish service). You can literally stream to a million different devices if you see fit. I personally use my brother's. We don't live in the same household, but I kick him back some money (It was very simialr to this when I lived with him, btw) Illegal by the TOS? I'd say so. Who actually cares though? Not ESPN it seems, or they'd restrict the access. Have you honestly never ever fudged the law on any purchase in your entire life? Are you the guy who's too afraid to pull off the tag on your mattress that says "do not remove under penalty of law?"
Bottom line, these technologies are being used in a way that the law hasn't caught up with yet. A couple that doesn't live together pares it down to one netflix account. Where are you to scream, "THAT'S STEALING!!" Hell at least I share with a family member. Someone plus their coax into their TV and watches the channels, where are you to scream "THIS IS CRIMINAL!!!!" You watch an old TV show on youtube, do you turn it off in disgust thinking "THEY DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE THIS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY!!!" The way people use these technologies has fundamentally changed. These situations are starting to be built into the business model, and have become a reason why these business models change. What was so damn popular in the early 2000s? Pirating music. Then along came iTunes, and then Spotify/et al, and now pirating music is a blip on a radar. What was huge in the late 2000s? Pirating movies. It was estimated that 1/4 of all internet traffic was torrented movies. A few years later Netflix hits, and 1/4 of internet traffic was Netflix. We've already seen the cable model begin to shift as it must adapt to technology around it. Screaming "DAT IWLEGAL" at something doesn't solve the overall issue that people are doing it, will continue to do it, and the companies can make a choice to fight it, or adapt. I believe ESPNs strategy of not restricting devices is their way of saying "we can't win, so let's get as many eyeballs on the ads as we possibly can." I can't think of any other explanation.
It's a moot point, because once football season is back I'm reactivating my Playstation Vue account. I don't watch ESPN in the summer. So let your sweet little weary head rest, I will be legally paying for access.
Sidenote: My old Roku just had the WatchESPN work by itself. I never logged in, I never added any information, it just worked. What's your expert legal opinion on that? How is it much different from using my brother's login with his consent?
Second sidenote: why in the world did you single out my post, when there's like 30 posts about Kodi, which is a million times more illegal/stealy than my solution? Hell at least in my model there's a real account with a real cable company being paid real dollars. Kodi is just an ad hoc network of streaming pirates.
.
