Sports-oriented wireless carrier Mobile ESPN shut down today, in a not entirely unexpected move.

Mobile ESPN was an application masquerading as a carrier; a great sports-info app running on Sprint phones on the Sprint network, but for some reason selling their own subscriptions. It never attracted many subscribers because in a nation of family plans, it's tough to convince anyone outside of Green Bay, WI that Mom, Dad and the kids should all have the same high-priced sports-oriented phones. Mobile ESPN also never let people watch ESPN TV live on the phone, which I always found confusing.

The carrier was part of a quartet of flashy launches of 'virtual' mobile carriers this year, including Amp'd, Helio and Disney Mobile. Helio is said to have very few subscribers, but its deep-pocketed backers have said many times that they're in for the long haul. Amp'd, which I met with a few weeks ago at the CTIA show in LA, says they're starting to pick up traction, but they're also exploring being a content provider to a larger carrier with Telus in Canada. Disney Mobile targets the huge potential market for kids' phones, so I wouldn't count them out quite yet.

Sports fans shouldn't despair, though. According to Mobile ESPN's site, they're reinventing themselves as an information application on another wireless provider. I'm assuming Sprint.