Disney is launching its new ESPN flagship streaming app Thursday, simply in time for the soccer season, bringing clients the total ESPN suite in a single place.
The leisure firm has been engaged on the launch of the direct-to-consumer app — which can also be named ESPN — for a while. It’s designed to develop entry for current cable subscribers and provides sports activities followers outdoors the normal pay TV bundle entry to all of ESPN’s content material.
Tune in at 10 a.m. ET: CNBC’s David Faber interviews Disney CEO Bob Iger and ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro concerning the launch of the brand new ESPN streaming app. Watch in actual time on CNBC+ or the CNBC Pro stream.
It’s the primary time the corporate is providing all of its linear TV content material to clients through streaming.
Here’s what we learn about what the app will appear to be and the way it will work for customers.
Plan playbook
Anyone who at the moment pays for ESPN by their cable service may have entry to the ESPN streaming app.
For everybody else, the app will are available in quite a lot of choices at sign-up.
Subscribers can purchase into the limitless plan, which grants entry to all of ESPN’s networks, for $29.99 monthly or $299.99 yearly.
ESPN says this plan will cowl greater than 47,000 stay occasions yearly, together with the NCAA championships, the Australian Open, the PGA Championship and extra.
Users can even bundle the ESPN limitless plan with Disney+ and Hulu for $35.99 a month, together with advertisements, or $44.99 a month with out advertisements.
At launch, Disney will provide that very same bundle at a promotional worth of $29.99 monthly, with advertisements, for the primary 12 months.
There’s additionally one other bundle on the way in which, in October. ESPN and Fox Corp. are teaming up to supply their direct-to-consumer streaming providers as a mixed providing.
Fox’s service, known as Fox One, also debuts Thursday and contains all Fox content material together with information and sports activities. It prices $19.99 a month by itself.
The ESPN and Fox One bundle can be obtainable on Oct. 2 for $39.99 monthly. However, clients of the pay TV bundle will obtain entry to every of the streaming apps at no extra value.
What’s subsequent for ESPN+
Short of the ESPN limitless providing, the corporate can also be debuting its ESPN choose tier.
This plan options entry to all content material obtainable on the prevailing ESPN+ service, together with stay sports activities streaming, a library of unique studio reveals and unique content material and on-demand sport replays.
ESPN says this plan will cowl greater than 32,000 stay occasions yearly.
It will value $11.99 monthly or $119.99 yearly.
Customers can even buy the Disney+, Hulu and ESPN choose bundle, which incorporates advertisements, for $16.99 monthly, or a no-ads choice for $26.99 monthly.
ESPN+ was the sports activities community’s first foray into streaming, launching in 2018 as a separate app that has unique content material outdoors the TV community. While it has some stay sport simulcasts, it is by no means housed the majority of ESPN’s content material.
ESPN+ had 24 million subscribers as of Disney’s most up-to-date earnings report.
Existing ESPN+ clients will routinely develop into subscribers of the ESPN choose plan underneath the brand new service, the corporate has stated.
Customers with current subscriptions to the streaming bundles will have the ability to watch ESPN content material on Disney+ alongside the opposite programming.
Bulking up content material
ESPN’s streaming service will embrace all the community’s stay video games, together with programming from ESPN2, the SEC Network and ESPN on ABC. In addition, it’ll function fantasy merchandise, new betting tie-ins, studio programming and documentaries, amongst different kinds of content material.
The community just lately signed two offers to bolster its sports activities choices.
In early August, ESPN stated it was getting into a partnership with the WWE for the U.S. rights to the wrestling league’s largest occasions, together with WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble and SummerSlam. CNBC reported ESPN can pay a mean of $325 million per 12 months for 5 years of rights. On Wednesday, ESPN and WWE stated that deal begins instantly, sooner than beforehand introduced.
ESPN additionally reached a deal this month with the National Football League to accumulate the NFL Network in alternate for the professional soccer league taking an fairness stake in ESPN.
— CNBC’s Alex Sherman and Lillian Rizzo contributed to this report.