ESPN Direct-to-Consumer Name and Prices Will Be Revealed Next Week – Here’s Everything We Know
In today’s earning’s call, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro will share the name and pricing of the upcoming ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service. For months, the service has been code-named “Flagship” within the company, but that won’t be the official name.
‘Bells and Whistles’
Today, Iger said anyone who subscribes to ESPN through a linear live TV provider like Sling TV or DIRECTV will get free access to the upcoming ESPN streamer.
The idea is to preserve the revenue from live TV providers while adding more viewers who don’t want a full channel package. But it sounds like the ESPN streamer will be packed with so many features, viewers may choose that platform over the linear feed.
Last month, Pitaro said the ESPN streamer will have:
- Multiview on all devices
- A “personalized” SportsCenter
What we assume the streamer will include:
- Integration with ESPN Bet
- Live stats
- ESPN Fantasy scores
Integration Across Streamers
Iger said, “What we’ll continue to do is give consumers of Disney+ and Hulu a taste of live sports on (the ESPN streamer) so that we have an opportunity to upsell them.”
“The most important thing is that if you are a subscriber of Disney+ and Hulu and ESPN DTC, you’ll have a seamless experience there,” Iger said. “They’ll be completely ultimately integrated or embedded into the service.”
Clearing Up Confusion
Disney is already making things tricky for potential subscribers. It offers two products called Hulu (one that’s strictly on-demand and one that includes live TV), a family of linear channels called ESPN and a separate streamer called ESPN+. But Iger says they’re going to do their best to keep things clear.
“We’re gonna make it very, very clear what is what, meaning what you get when you just watch linear, what you get when you sign up to Disney DTC,” Iger said.
This may be easier said than done. Disney is likely to keep the ESPN+ sports as a separate add-on tier, though it may not be called ESPN+ after the announcement.
What Will It Cost?
Disney needs to make the streamer expensive enough that it doesn’t trigger a war with its live TV provider partners, but low enough that it gets enough adoption.
The now-dead Venu Sports was going to include ABC, ESPN, ESPN+, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, Fox, FS1, FS2, ACC Network, SEC Network, Big Ten Network, TNT, TBS, and truTV for $42.99/month.
This package will obviously be much smaller. I’d guess it will be priced around $24.99-$29.99/month. I expect preferred pricing for people who bundle it with the other Disney streamers.
Will It Work?
ESPN+ has never gone topped 25.6 million subscribers (Q3, 2024). Today, it has 24.1 million – roughly the same number it’s had for the past three years. Disney has done everything they can to make it attractive. It’s only $11.99/month. You get it free if you subscribe to Hulu + Live TV. The price for the Disney+ Hulu and ESPN+ bundle is very reasonable, starting at $16.99.
The problem is that anyone subscribing to ESPN’s new streamer won’t have access to lots of other sports like those on FOX, FS1, NBC/Peacock, or CBS/Paramount+. So this streamer won’t be a silver bullet. Sports fans will still need a live TV option. ESPN’s streamer won’t do much for NFL fans, for example.
Sports are the last thing keeping live TV providers alive, so any divorce to streaming is likely to be messy. We can’t put the genie back in the bottle as media companies are trying to drive adoption of their streamers while still drawing revenue from live TV providers.
Unless the ESPN streamer is offered at a crazy discount, it will probably top out around 10 million subscribers. If Disney kills off ESPN+ and includes it with “Flagship,” that number would grow higher, but it’s hard to see a more expensive sports service surpassing the 25 million subscriber ceiling ESPN+ has shown.
