Posted on 02/07/2024 8:21:59 AM PST by Red Badger
Warner Bros. Discovery is preparing to launch a streaming service in partnership with ESPN / Disney and Fox Sports, as reported earlier by CNBC and Sports Business Journal. All three companies have agreed in principle to launch an as-yet-unnamed standalone app, of which they all share one-third ownership, this fall that streams a range of leagues and sports.
It is poised to have sports networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNews, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, and truTV. The new service will air games from the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Hockey League (NHL), along with NASCAR, PGA Tour Golf, Grand Slam Tennis, and more. Disney Plus, Hulu, and Max users will also get the option to bundle the new service.
The Verge reached out to the three companies with a request for more information but didn’t immediately hear back.
“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 due to regional sports streamers are another issue the combined app will have to deal with.
The Disney-owned ESPN is also expected to launch a streaming-only version of its sports network. 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 also rumored to be shopping for a partner for ESPN after declining ad revenue from the once-lucrative 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 move to bring together some of the biggest sports networks could create an even larger selection of streaming options for viewers that aren’t limited to just specific types of sports and leagues. It could create the kind of super sports streaming service that sports fans navigating the awful current environment would appreciate — or it could just be a more expensive, incomplete, and bug-ridden version of what we already had with cable TV.
We may hear more about the deal when Disney reports its earnings on Wednesday.
Ping!.................
Add the Bally Sports network and it would be athletically perfect
“So long as they (the Proles) continued to work and breed, their other activities were without importance. Left to themselves, like cattle turned loose upon the plains of Argentina, they had reverted to a style of life that appeared to be natural to them, a sort of ancestral pattern...Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.”
― George Orwell, 1984
One app to bind them all...............................
I have been a sports fan. The money, the commercialization, the de-emphasis of excellence has driven me away. Used to love golf, LIV has ruined it. Used to love CFB, NIL is trashing it.
No big deal. If it’s on my tv at no extra cost, I may watch. If not, lots of other stuff to do.
I’m turning into the old “get off my lawn” guy.
I have FUBO TV, this will put them out of business.
This will be ‘Pay Per View’ on steroids...................
ESPN already had a sports streaming app. They must want to pool resources to compete with the major broadcast networks. Thus, you will pay a fee to watch popular team professional and college sports.
“I’m turning into the old “get off my lawn” guy.”
That could be a sport.
See who can get off your lawn the fastest.
“ESPN already had a sports streaming app.”
The streaming service, ESPN+, does not show what is being broadcast on the regular ESPN channels.
Unless they’re each going to continue to offer standalone services which compete with each other, isn’t there a huge antitrust issue here? “Let’s not compete for viewers or on rights fees” isn’t exactly consumer friendly.
I predicted this long ago.
No more ‘free’ broadcast TV; streaming or Pay-Per-View only.
It’s the way things are going...............
I hope every tv, computer, and phone that downloads this app explodes.
Toooo many out there now
The triumvirate is seeking to be a streaming monopoly for some sports venues. Whatever happened to antitrust? Instead of competing every year to have those venues on their own “app” they are colluding to not compete and have their triumvirate get a lock on the venues for themselves.
That will change.
They will consolidate.
It’s the nature of the beast............
Post of the day.
I had fubotv until they tried to force a regional sports network (RSN) onto my subscription...
At an increase to my monthly bill of course.....that was the end of that.
I was never overly impressed with the quality of the stream resolution anyway, and it seemed to buffer a lot.
The streaming service I have now has none of that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.