ESPN is blacked out primarily due to broadcasting rights and regional access agreements. These agreements give local or regional sports networks exclusive rights to broadcast certain live sports events in specific geographic areas. As a result, ESPN must block access to those games in those regions to avoid conflicts with local coverage. This is particularly common for games involving local teams in major leagues like the NBA, MLB, and NFL. Additionally, streaming services like ESPN+ also face blackout restrictions based on location due to similar rights agreements. Blackouts can occur at local, regional, or even national levels depending on who holds the broadcasting rights for an event. The blackout system uses geolocation (IP address or GPS) to enforce these restrictions so that viewers in blackout zones cannot watch games on ESPN and must watch them on local networks instead.
Other reasons for blackouts include contract disputes between distributors and ESPN or other Disney networks, which can cause temporary blackouts of ESPN channels on certain cable or streaming platforms.
