New ESPN Plus Streaming Service Launch Confirmed For Spring 2018

ESPN will soon be launching a new direct to consumer streaming service called ESPN Plus. Disney CEO Bob Iger mentioned the service in the company’s Q3 2017 earnings call. The announcement was made following another disappointing quarter for the sports network as programming costs rise and advertising revenue goes down.

ESPN is going to launch a new app in spring 2018 through which the ESPN Plus streaming service will be accessed. ESPN’s streaming service is actually going to be launched earlier than Disney’s own streaming service that’s scheduled to arrive at some point in 2019.

Iger mentioned during the earnings call that the new app will enable viewers to “stream our channels on an authenticated basis and subscribe to ESPN+ for additional sports coverage, including thousands of live sporting events.”

What he didn’t confirm is that whether this is going to be a standalone streaming service that anyone can sign up for or if it’s only going to be limited to viewers that are authenticated to watch ESPN through an existing cable subscription.

One would expect that the new streaming service would be designed for cord-cutters, given that quite a lot of people are ditching conventional cable subscriptions now for more flexible options.

More details about the new ESPN Plus streaming service will arrive in the coming months.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: disney, Entertainment, espn