Officially announced new streaming service to be available before the kickoff of the football season. Details: The new offering was going to be called ESPN Flagship or ESPN All Access, but Disney settled on just plain ESPN. New Direct-to-Consumer Offering to be Singularly Branded ESPN The unlimited plan will give fans access to all of ESPN’s linear networks – ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes – in addition to ESPN on ABC, ESPN+, ESPN3, SECN+, and ACCNX, covering 47,000 live events each year, on-demand replays, studio shows, original programming, and more. ESPN’s unprecedented rights portfolio includes the NFL; NBA; NHL; MLB; WNBA; UFC; UFL; SEC; ACC; Big 12; College Football Playoff; 40 NCAA championships including the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship; LaLiga, Bundesliga, NWSL, and FA Cup soccer; Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open tennis; The Masters, PGA Championship, PGA TOUR, and TGL golf; Little League World Series baseball and softball; Premier Lacrosse League; and more. ESPN’s leading studio shows include the iconic SportsCenter, Get Up, First Take, NFL Live, The Pat McAfee Show, Pardon the Interruption, College GameDay, NBA Today, and others, along with on-demand content including 30 for 30 films, ESPN Originals, and more. Monthly subscription: $29.99 Annual subscription: $299.99 Disney+, Hulu, ESPN unlimited bundle: $35.99/month (with ads on Disney+/Hulu), $44.99/month (no ads on Disney+/Hulu*) Special offer at launch: Disney+, Hulu, ESPN unlimited bundle for $29.99/month for the first 12 months (with ads on Disney+/Hulu) Fox will also offer their sports streaming service around the same time. It will be called Fox One: I might consider Fox One so long as it costs no more than ESPN. Local Fox is the only station I can't get as their tower is too far away. I'd still have cost savings, just not as much. It's worth it to me to get away from Google which owns YoiuTube TV. My guess is Fox One is going to be priced higher than ESPN. Fox One - Stream the Best of FOX Shows, Movies & Documentaries I'll be subscribing to ESPN while simultaneously cancelling YouTube TV which cost $94.25 including tax/fees. Instead of paying $29.99 plus tax/fees, I'm considering trying it out for 1 month and then paying annually at $299.99 if it works as advertised, $25 plus tax/fees. My new lineup of services will yield cost savings of $50.94 monthly, $186.33 down to $135.39 The only content that I'll no longer be paying for are my local channels which I get OTA for free using Tablo and an antenna which I installed as a Christmas present a couple of years back: AT&T 1000 Fiber Internet - Go big, no buffering. ESPN frndly TV - Hallmark (3), Great American Family (2) Max - Amazing all of the on-demand content on Max. Netflix Prime Video - No charge/Amazon Prime Member. Tablo/Antenna - 50 hours of recording capability. Happy Savings & Streaming!
That's what it starts costing. I'd bet it will be at around 50% more by the 2026 season. Also, will need YouTube TV for March Madness.
I'm an old person now, but not really old. With these TV streaming changes, NIL, and a transfer portal that involved 3000+ cfb players, the game frankly ain't what it used to be. Remember waking up on Sunday and watching the Yellawood commercials with some Gator football highlights in-between? Well, shoot. Even those days are done. Now we've got players who nobody knows (cept for the real diehard folks who spend time following all that) who are being paid by people nobody know and paid for what? Nobody knows. Guess I'm finding out what it feels like to be really old.
My basic cable is 100 and i only have it for espnz. I had hulu for a bit but it was 80 a month. My total bill is 300. Internet is 80 for a decent speed.
I have the premium bundle + live tv for $96. If that bundle goes to 44 + 82 listed price for live, I'll now be paying $126. Probably a bundle discount in there somewhere, but thats not gonna fly for me. Youtube TV has ESPN and SEC Network for $83. Disney+ has become completely worthless now, so I'm literally gonna do the exact opposite of the OP to save money.
You can bet ESPN won't change for at least 1 year. It's Disney so it is bound to go up. However, starting at $299.99 annually, $28.38 monthly including tax/fees, I can live with this. Besides, YouTube TV has consistently bumped me up too. The next YouTube TV price increase will put me over $100. My current internet & streaming totals $180.26 including tax/fees. My proposed when ESPN is available: $80.26 AT&T 1000 Fiber Internet (Monthly) $28.38 ESPN (Annual Amortized over 12 months) $11.01 frndly TV (Annual amortized over 12 months) $6.67 HBO Max (Annual amortized over 12 months) $9.07 Netflix (Monthly) $0.00 Prime Video *Amazon Prime Member* $0.00 Tablo for locals $135.99 Total Internet & Streaming The changes result in an annual cost savings of $611.28. *Being an Amazon Prime Member gives me access through Prime Video to free Fox News, Fox Business, Live Fox Now, and partial access to my Fox local that I can't pick up on Tablo as their tower is too far away to receive their signal. I also have free access to Fox Sports which includes FS1 and FS2. No, I won't be subscribing to Fox One which is likely DOA to streamers. Like you, I have a concern for not having access to March Madness. The best option I can give you is to subscribe to Sling TV Blue for one month to get TBS, TNT, and TRU. Simply cancel Sling after March Madness. The cost for Sling Blue is $45.99 plus tax/fees for one month. When March Madness comes, I'll be more than happy to spring for one month of Sling TV Blue to save approximately $559 annually. If anyone has any pointers on how to do streaming better, please let me know. Max just yesterday changed their name back to HBO Max. I'm seeing rumors that they will eventually spin off Cooking, Food, HGTV, and Magnolia. If so, I'll cancel HBO Max and go to Discovery+. Easy peasy, streaming goes on. My wife lives on these channels, must haves even if on demand instead of live TV.
That's fine if you don't care to have the 100+ channels of youtube TV. I'm just pointing out hulu (no ads), D+ (no ads), and ESPN+ is $26.99 right now. The new "deal" is going to be 1/3 the service for more money, though that seems to be the norm these days. Honestly if it weren't for others in my home I would have youtube premium, twitch prime and internet and that's it. Then just pick up ESPN for the football season.
Yeah, I finally cracked on the phone a year ago. Now got Mint for $45 for 3 phones. Need data? Connect to wifi or get a job and buy your own damn plan.
That's a great plan and advice for folks. I like the 4 screen (multiple games) on YouTube TV I can switch back and forth between during March Madness. I also like the unlimited DVR so I record all MBB and WBB and football and baseball . . . but my grandson uses it a lot more than I do. Why do you think ESPN won't change for a year? The others all do. Seemingly coordinated.
This is for cord cutters, those who don't have cable or YTTV or Hulu Live. This is a revenue trend, trying to reach those who stopped paying for basic cable-style TV. My next charge for ESPN Plus is $10 a month, it is well worth it. I also have YTTV, so the above is not for me.
Um, do we get lube with it, or do we have to take it natural??? New and improved Purina Dog Chow. It is the BEST!!! So what you are saying is that you have sold us crap for decades and now you are going to sell us less-than-crap? Okay...
Disney needs subscriber and retention. Remove the price incentive to break from larger tv providers like YouTube TV and ESPN streaming fails.
For someone like wanne who only has a normal cable/sat/streaming subscription so he can get access to espn's regular lineup, this seems like a pretty good deal. I think I could get by with the hulu/espn/disney package and save a bunch of money, but not sure I could talk the wife into losing the other 100 or so channels. Surprised the big providers don't have protection from ESPN undercutting them like this. Being forced to have one of their packages to get access to ESPN is/was huge for them.
