Three titans of entertainment are teaming up.
Yesterday saw the announcement that ESPN, FOX, and WarnerBros Discovery are launching a joint streaming sports service, with the offer set to include NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, College Sports, UFC, PGA TOUR Golf, Grand Slam Tennis, the FIFA World Cup, Cycling and more.
The following statement and interview highlights from Warner Bros. Discovery delves deeper into the deal, sharing an insight into what this is likely to mean for sports contents availability moving forward.
Will Bring Together Sports Linear Networks and Direct-to-Consumer Service ESPN+Offering to include NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, College Sports, UFC, PGA TOUR Golf, Grand Slam Tennis, the FIFA World Cup, Cycling and Much More
The Service will be offered through a New Standalone App, Built from the Ground Up, for the Passionate Sports Fan
ESPN, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, FOX, and Warner Bros. Discovery have reached an understanding on principal terms to form a new joint venture (JV) to build an innovative new platform to house a compelling streaming sports service. The platform brings together the companies’ portfolios of sports networks, certain direct-to-consumer (DTC) sports services, and sports rights – including content from all the major professional sports leagues and college sports. The formation of the pay service is subject to the negotiation of definitive agreements amongst the parties. The offering, scheduled to launch in the fall of 2024, would be made available directly to consumers via a new app. Subscribers would also have the ability to bundle the product, including with Disney+, Hulu, and/or Max.By subscribing to this focused, all-in-one premier sports service, fans would have access to the linear sports networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV, as well as ESPN+.
Key Highlights:ESPN, FOX, and Warner Bros. Discovery would form a new joint venture to develop, launch, and operate a streaming sports bundle of linear networks and certain DTC sports content and services.
Each entity would own one-third of the JV, have equal board representation, and license their sports content to the joint venture on a non-exclusive basis.
The service would have a new brand with an independent management team.
Bob Iger, Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company said, “The launch of this new streaming sports service is a significant moment for Disney and ESPN, a major win for sports fans, and an important step forward for the media business. This means the full suite of ESPN channels will be available to consumers alongside the sports programming of other industry leaders as part of a differentiated sports-centric service. I’m grateful to Jimmy Pitaro and the team at ESPN, who are at the forefront of innovating on behalf of consumers to create new offerings with more choice and greater value.”Lachlan Murdoch, Executive Chair and Chief Executive Officer of FOX said, “We’re pumped to bring the FOX Sports portfolio to this new and exciting platform. We believe the service will provide passionate fans outside of the traditional bundle an array of amazing sports content all in one place.”
David Zaslav, Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery, said “At WBD, our ambition is always to connect our leading content and brands with as many viewers as possible, and this exciting joint venture and the unparalleled combination of marquee sports rights and access to the greatest sporting events in the world allows us to do just that. This new sports service exemplifies our ability as an industry to drive innovation and provide consumers with more choice, enjoyment and value and we’re thrilled to deliver it to sports fans.”
More details, including pricing, will be announced at a later date.
The new service will showcase thousands of high-profile sporting events including:
PRO FOOTBALL NFL UFL
BASKETBALL NBA WNBA
BASEBALL MLB
HOCKEY NHL
COLLEGE SPORTS Thousands of games and events, multiple sports, across nearly two dozen conferences, including: ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, SEC 40 NCAA Championship Events NCAA Men’s & Women’s Basketball Tournaments The College Football Playoff
GOLF PGA Tour PGA Championship The Masters TGL
GRAND SLAM TENNIS Wimbledon US Open Australian Open
CYCLING Giro d’Italia UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Giro Donne
SOCCER FIFA World Cup U.S. Soccer NWSL MLS LALIGA Bundesliga UEFA CONCACAF
COMBAT SPORTS UFC Top Rank
AUTO Formula 1 NASCAR 24 Hours of Le Mans
Wrestling content, particularly relating to AEW, was not mentioned in the press release, although with TNT and TBS mentioned as being a part of the deal, one would expect AEW to also land on the streaming service in the future.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on ESPN, FOX, & WBD forming a joint sports streaming service and what this may mean for AEW as soon as we hear more.
