Disney Prices ESPN OTT Service At $4.99 A Month Ahead Of Spring Launch

[osu1991]

Disney Prices ESPN OTT Service At $4.99 A Month Ahead Of Spring Launch

At the top of Disney’s quarterly earnings call, CEO Bob Iger said the long-awaited stand-alone ESPN OTT service will be priced at $4.99 a month. It will be available at launch this spring via Apple iOS, Android and ChromeCast as the initial platforms, with “more to follow,” Iger said

He stressed that the app “will be a completely new app,” with three main features: personalized scores, highlights and news; live streaming of the existing linear networks, and the new “ESPN Plus” component. ESPN Plus will include “incremental thousands of hours of live programming,”

The “technological guts” of the existing ESPN app, “are being completely re-done,” Iger said. The new one will offer sports fans “a greatly expanded array” of content, including “countless scores and highlights,” plus podcasts and several live streams. MVPD subscribers will be able to access the app for free, while ESPN Plus subscribers will pay the monthly fee.

 

[Ronnie-]

I was under the impression that this would NOT include the linear channels, but this seems to indicate otherwise.
Interesting.

 

[Ronnie-]

Edit: Never mind, it appears that if you already have a subscription, you can watch the current live channels with this, much like how Watch ESPN works.

As such, I do not see the appeal to this

Odd, the OP link says this:

He stressed that the app “will be a completely new app,” with three main features: personalized scores, highlights and news; live streaming of the existing linear networks, and the new “ESPN Plus” component. ESPN Plus will include “incremental thousands of hours of live programming,”

Yet, this other link says this:

Disney sets price for new ESPN Plus streaming service at $4.99 per month

Unfortunately, ESPN Plus will not contain access to SportsCenter or to live ESPN channels, as Iger says Disney will not make ESPN Plus available unless you’re a “traditional or non-traditional” subscriber of standard ESPN.

This one states basically the same thing:
ESPN's streaming service will cost $4.99

But subscribers won't be able to watch the most popular games for only $4.99. Streaming ESPN TV networks will require a subscription to an existing service that offers those channels.

 

[Yragha]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess all the content on the new $5 service will be that of ESPN3 which would then be eliminated.