It's mainly from hand-me-downs from TV, such as network coverage or tonnage from big events' world TV feeds being simultaneously streamed. Local games, outside markets getting that coverage, go online so the rest of us can watch. And while online users sometimes get add-ons like camera angles that don't show up on TV, live sports online is often a dumping ground.

That's changing. Consider that between Thursday and Labor Day, ESPN/ABC has 31 college football games — and 10 will be TV-like productions only on ESPN3.com, which is in about 53 million households. ESPN3.com's TV-like productions of 40 college football games this season will usually be for games that couldn't make the cut to be televised — it kicks off with Presbyterian-Wake Forest Thursday (6:30 p.m. ET). But those online games will get their own on-site announcers, 5-7 cameras and production crews creating TV-like graphics. The site this season will also have its first online college football and basketball studio shows with Internet-only announcers.

"These are meant to be TV broadcasts that happen to be online," says Damon Phillips, ESPN3.com vice president. "We want fans to see it as just another TV network."

Internet-only productions are common on bigtennetwork.com and cbssports.com, which has tie-ins with 200 colleges that sometimes use announcers or just set up a webcam to create coverage. But ESPN3.com's Phillips, who was a Stanford linebacker under coach Bill Walsh in the 1990s, says online users are getting to pick: "Three years ago, users just hoped that live online sports just worked, that it wasn't too blurry. Now, they expect it to be like TV."

ESPN3.com had been ESPN360.com until it was renamed in April to make it sound more TV-like.

And while it carries lots of events made for TV somewhere — its 4,000 live events this year include lots of imported TV cricket and badminton — the idea is to elevate online action from junior varsity status. "Online TV has grown up," says Phillips. "We look at making ESPN3.com just another TV network for games that won't fit on the TV channels."

Eventually, screens might keep us from ever having to endure natural light during our leisure hours.