ESPN, for all of the millions that flow through their grubby hands, only recently decided to do an HD feed for Deportes. If memory serves, they launched it somewhere around September/October of 2011. My big question is: Why wait for so long?

And here is why:

Deportes was almost always an "afterthought" in the ESPN empire. News Corp and their Fox Sports Deportes, as well as GOL TV, had the most popular leagues sewn up. ESPN couldn't get their hands on the Mexico league, because those games are broadcast by the Mexican broadcasters. Their only link to England's Premier League was ONE sole game a week. In the ESPN business model, football (as the world knows it) wasn't a high priority, simply because everyone else had it before they could attempt to weasel in. They were simply trying to use their name, hoping it would be just as big, but in a Spanish language. The only other European league they could get signed was Eredivisie from The Netherlands, and even that they pay scant attention to.

So what made them decide to finally offer an HD feed? News Corp's decision to re-brand Fox Sports en Espanol to Fox Sports DEPORTES. News Corp was now treading a bit too close to their only way of connecting with the Latin market. Their names were going to be the same, they HAD to find some way of differentiating themselves.

Just follow ESPN's decision making over the years:

They rolled out HD on the two primary channels. Then they put News in HD, because more cable systems were adding HD to their lineups. Their college channel ("U") was not on the short-list to get its HD feed, as ESPN was busy trying to get the additional money from outside the US --- starting up ESPN America as a premium network across the European continent. Deportes fell lower and lower in their list of priorities.

Ask yourself this question, as well: DirecTV attempts to market itself as the place for sports. With that reputation, and with ESPN's muscle, why haven't they been a "first-adopter" of ESPN Deportes in HD? And if you're thinking Comcast is going to add it anytime soon, are YOU sadly mistaken. They just started to roll out Fox Soccer HD, and don't even have THAT in all of their upgraded systems yet. No Fox Soccer Plus over on Comcast, either.

Uverse will probably be adding it this year, along with probably getting the national feeds (instead of being limited to local-only) of the US Spanish networks (Univision, Telefutura, Galavision, Telemundo) in HD.