ESPN reveals its plan for direct-to-consumer streaming service of all its networks
ESPN's new unlimited plan for when it goes to a DTC service in the fall.
ESPN, for decades a pillar of the traditional pay TV bundle, on Tuesday announced a direct-to-consumer streaming service that its chairman, Jimmy Pitaro, said “is going to redefine our business.”
It also represents a major milestone in the evolution away from cable and satellite bundles, a business ESPN helped pioneer.
“Fans have never been able to buy ESPN directly before,” Pitaro said at Disney’s New York headquarters in lower Manhattan.
Starting at a yet-to-be announced date this autumn, they will be.
ESPN said its “unlimited” plan will cost $29.99 per month (or $299.99 per year) and include all current content under the network’s vast umbrella, including more than 47,000 live events per year.
Also, for the first 12 months after launch, viewers can get a bundle that includes Disney+ and Hulu for the same $29.99 price, a discount from $35.99 a month.
There also will be a “select” plan that only includes what currently is available on ESPN+. It will cost $11.99 a month or $119.99 a year.
Current ESPN+ subscribers will automatically become subscribers to ESPN’s new service, based on their current subscription level.
Pitaro stressed ESPN is pursuing a “parallel path strategy” in which traditional pay TV remains an important part of its business even as that world continues to shrink.
The goal with the direct-to-consumer product is attracting people not currently subscribing to the network, particularly young people who never have paid for a bundled pay TV package and likely never will.
“Our mission is very clear: Serve the sports fan, anytime, anywhere,” Pitaro said. “We want fans to subscribe in whatever way is comfortable for them.”
Rosalyn Durant, executive vice president of programming and acquisitions, said, “Our primary focus is getting fans off the sidelines.”
ESPN’s move had been expected for years. But the name of the new product was a source of much speculation and discussion, internally and externally
In the end, the company opted to simply stick with the four letters that make its brand the most powerful in sports media.
“That’s what we’re calling it: ‘ESPN,’” Pitaro said. “Simple, straightforward, clear.”
Simplicity is one reason ESPN opted for only two programming and price offers rather than a more multitiered approach.
“One of the challenges the entire industry has is complexity,” Pitaro said.
ESPN might become part of larger bundles with other media companies in time, but Pitaro said there was nothing to announce yet on that front.
Pitaro also said ESPN remains interested in incorporating into its product local live sports and is working with leagues on making that happen.
The evolution toward live streaming of sports events has been ongoing, and all of the New York area’s major pro teams currently are available direct-to-consumer.
But ESPN doing so is the biggest development yet.
Pitaro said the company merely is following fans where they are, and that the measure of success will not be how many streaming subscriptions it sells but how many customers it has throughout its universe.
“We are going to judge ourselves,” he said, “on the totality of people subscribing to ESPN.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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