The flagship, direct-to-consumer version of ESPN will not be a mere streaming service, insists company chair Jimmy Pitaro, but rather a distillation of all the company’s various offerings and capabilities.
According to Front Office Sports, already the most pressing initiative for not only ESPN, but perhaps parent company Walt Disney Co., the forthcoming offering will feature a wide variety of enhanced features, including multi-screen viewing, full integration with ESPN Bet, ticketing, and merchandising, fantasy content, user personalization, and advanced statistics, among others. The existing ESPN+ will also be available within the flagship ESPN streaming service.
“It’s not just about flipping the switch [and making the network available direct-to-consumer],” Pitaro said, appearing Thursday at the Columbia University Sports Management Conference. “When we do this, it will come with significant product enhancements. Yes, you’ll be able to get all of our networks. But the shoulder experience around the video will be much more interactive and it will be much more personalized. … I could go on and on, but we have an army of engineers and designers on all of this right now.”
The service, expected to cost around $30 per month, is still set to debut next summer, in time for the 2025 college and pro football seasons, as ESPN and Disney officials have detailed for many months.
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