As part of a wide-ranging agreement between the Walt Disney Company and Verizon, customers will be able to watch ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Buzzer Beater live online beginning Thursday (Feb. 17). To access the online programming, Verizon customers must subscribe to FiOS TV.

The online rights to the ESPN networks are part of a broader agreement, which also includes the full suite of cable services from the Walt Disney Company: ABC Family, Disney Channel, Disney XD and the soon-to-be-launched Disney Junior, as well as retransmission consent for local ABC broadcast stations.

FiOS TV customers will be able to watch ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Buzzer Beater live on their personal computers or laptops – at home or away – using any broadband connection. Buzzer Beater, which features live cut-ins and highlights from numerous top college basketball games during each Wednesday and Saturday of the college basketball season, is normally only available to FiOS TV customers who subscribe to the Extreme HD or Ultimate HD TV packages; but it is currently accessible to Prime TV package customers through a free preview.

ESPN Goal Line, a similar service for the college football season, will become available for online viewing by FiOS TV customers subscribing to the Extreme HD or Ultimate HD packages, when the season begins in September.

Users will have several viewing options for the channels, including picture-in-picture, simultaneous viewing of more than one channel, and full-screen viewing of a single channel. Verizon and ESPN plan to make the programming available on other Internet enabled devices, such as mobile phones and tablets, in the near future.

Using their Verizon Online user names and passwords, FiOS TV customers will be able to access the online programming at either www.verizon.com/fiostvcentral or www.ESPNnetworks.com.