While we’re still a long way away from being able to subscribe to ESPN all on its own, it appears that work is very much continuing behind the scenes. Disney CEO Bob Iger, at the company’s annual shareholders meeting, gave a brief mention to the previously-announced standalone sports offering.
While no major details were dropped, Iger initially said that “the full suite of ESPN channels” would be available as their own streaming subscription “in the fall of 2025.” While the year had previously been announced, the season had not. But it makes a lot of sense, given the importance of college football and the NFL to ESPN.
And it’s starting to sound like this won’t just the various ESPN-branded channels themselves that will be made available. Iger said to expect “interactive” components, too.
“This will give consumers,” Iger said in a pre-recorded video, “the ability to stream their favorite live games and studio programing, and take advantage of an immersive, customizable sports experience that includes betting, fantasy sports, e-commerce and more.”
It’ll be interesting to see of all of those details hit all of the places the standalone ESPN service will be available. Iger said you’ll be able to get the full ESPN suite as part of the Disney Bundle — which currently includes Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu. You can also see how gambling might not fit into the traditional Disney ecosystem. On the other hand, given the sheer amount of money at play in that space, you could see Disney having no issue with sports betting.
It will also be interesting to see what happens to the price of the Disney Bundle if the full ESPN suite is included by default or if you’ll be able to keep things limited to ESPN+, which doesn’t currently stream what you can find on ESPN on linear TV.
“Overall,” Iger said, “our current and future direct-to-consumer offerings are a clear differentiator for the company in a very competitive landscape.”
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