ESPN will call its forthcoming flagship streaming app simply ‘ESPN,’ sources say
By: Alex Sherman - CNBC.comAt long last, ESPN has chosen a name for its upcoming all-access streaming service.
Ready?
It’s “ESPN.”
Disney’s sports media division will announce the new — and also sort of old — name for the all-access streaming application at a media event next week, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be named speaking about not-yet-public details. A Disney spokesperson declined to comment.
Disney executives have referred to the streaming product, which is expected to cost $25 or $30 a month, as “flagship” internally for the past two years as they have developed the service. It will consist of everything ESPN has to offer, including all games; programming on other ESPN cable networks such as ESPN2 and the SEC Network; ESPN on ABC; fantasy products; new betting tie-ins; studio programming; documentaries and more.
This will differ from ESPN’s current streaming product ESPN+, which does not include the most-watched live games, such as Monday Night Football, that currently only air exclusively on traditional pay-TV. ESPN+ costs $11.99 per month and can be bundled with Disney+ and Hulu for $16.99 per month with commercials. ESPN+ will remain a less expensive offering for consumers, according to people familiar with the matter.
ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro decided to name the application ESPN to simplify what has become a cluttered streaming world, filled with different media products that can be bundled with other services at different price points, according to those people. The CNBC Sport newsletter first reported in February that ESPN executives were considering naming the application ESPN among other options.
The new ESPN streaming service is a new distribution mechanism, but most of the content is not new. Rather, the launch is about introducing consumers to a different way customers can access ESPN’s programming. That led executives to gravitate toward carrying over the legacy name, said the people.
The ESPN mobile application will be reimagined and act as the gateway to the all-access service on smart TVs and devices. Pay-TV subscribers who already get ESPN will automatically be able to authenticate into the new app to get the digital bells and whistles that are not available through cable TV. That overlap also played into executives’ decision to maintain uniformity with the name ESPN, rather than a different name that may increase confusion, the people said.
ESPN will next week announce the pricing of the application, as well as associated bundled discounts, Disney CEO Bob Iger said Wednesday during Disney’s quarterly earnings conference call.
ESPN has previously said the service will debut in the fall.
