Photo thanks to Manifest Technology

It looks like after a short off season, Mobile ESPN is back in the game.

ESPN and Verizon Wireless unveiled a deal Thursday that would make ESPN content such as video highlights, analysis, news and clips from shows such as SportsCenter, Pardon the Interruption, and Around the Horn available for free to customers of Verizon's preexisting $15 dollars a month V Cast service. Customers will also have access to ESPN Insider content and be able to manage their Fantasy teams from their cell phone.

The announcement follows a strategically retreat where after about a year operating as a mobile virtual network operator, meaning they were reselling Sprint wireless services through their own brand name, ESPN Mobile shut down their services last December, only able to scare up about 10,000 subscribers.

While ESPN seems to have found quite the golden parachute with their multiyear Verizon deal, they lost an estimated $150 million dollars on their MVNO venture in 2006, and their failure is an ominous sign for the MVNO industry in general. With a brand name as strong as ESPN unable to succeed, expect content providers to be that much more cautious about expending into virtual carriers.

Or perhaps the lesson learned was for a MVNO to work, the price structure will have to be more consumer friendly. The same ESPN content that used to be offered for nearly $65 a month, is now $50 cheaper, with subscribers able to access the rest of Verizon's V Cast services at no extra cost.

The V Cast Mobile ESPN will be available starting March.