The Walt Disney Company’s Sports Streaming Service: A Major Success for ESPN, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV Plus, and Peacock
It is believed that the sports network will also have a streaming-only version. Iger said last year that the company expects to launch a direct-to-consumer version of ESPN in 2025 as viewers turn away from cable. The company was rumored to be shopping for a partner for the sports network after declining ad revenue from the cable market. ESPN and Disney spoke to the NFL and NBA about such a partnership, according to CNBC last year, but it seems the company found a new path by teaming up with one of its largest competitors (Fox) and one of its parent company’s largest competitors (Warner Bros. Discovery).
“The launch of this new streaming sports service is a significant moment for Disney and ESPN, a major win for sports fans, and an important step forward for the media business,” Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger said in a statement. This will allow consumers to watch the entire suite of Disney channels as part of a branded sports-centered service.
“The launch of this new streaming sports service is a significant moment for Disney and ESPN, a major win for sports fans, and an important step forward for the media business,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement. “This means the full suite of ESPN channels will be available to consumers alongside the sports programming of other industry leaders as part of a differentiated sports-centric service.”
Sports streaming has become increasingly fractured as some leagues opt to continue airing games on traditional cable networks, while others have struck deals with streaming services. Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max streaming service launched a live sports add-on for an extra $9.99 per month.
Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video has a deal to stream live Thursday Night Football games, and Apple TV Plus offers subscribers a Major League Soccer season pass. Paramount Plus and NBC’s Peacock also offer select live sports streams. Local blackouts caused by regional sports streamers are one of the issues the app will have to deal with.
The NBA: How the NBA is triggering all this TV ad hoc and what we’re trying to do for live sports streaming, as Kevin Krim explains
The NBA is triggering all this for me. We see time and again that the NBA is the second-best franchise on TV behind the NFL,” Krim said. “You’re sort of staring at that renegotiation and new bids coming in that could include Google, Amazon, Netflix, Apple and others. It is a good way to stay competitive.
The NBA rights of Discovery and Warner Bros. are due to expire at the end of next season.
When it came to the original vision of the show, I think that it worked out well for the cast. So let’s do that again. But for live sports streaming,” he said.
Kevin Krim, the president and CEO of the ad measurement firm EDO, compared the three companies teaming up for sports like what some networks did when Hulu started in 2008.
