ESPN, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery have understood the key principles for creating a new joint venture (JV) to build a new platform for housing entertainment streaming services.
The platform brings together the company’s portfolio of sports networks, other direct-to-consumer (DTC) sports and sports rights, including content from all major sports teams and college sports.
The announcement of the new programming comes as traditional networks are pivoting away from major sports ratings — the last form of television that brings ratings and ratings — to sports entertainment.
BREAKING: ESPN, Fox, and Warner Brothers are combining their sports rights to launch a new sports streaming service, per @WSJ.
The service will be available to all ESPN+, Hulu, and Max subscribers, and each company will own one-third of the product. pic.twitter.com/Rop5ApX13r
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) February 6, 2024
The platform works well within the sports advertising market, providing media companies with another way to monetize high-value sports.
The platform contains a wide range of sports content for fans and aims to provide new and different programming to support sports fans, especially those outside the community.
By subscribing to these early games, fans can access game schedules from networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+.
Discovery will form new partnerships to develop, launch and operate a range of online streaming games as well as other sports and DTC services.
Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company:
“The launch of this new game is a tremendous opportunity for Disney and ESPN, a huge win for sports fans and an important part of the media business,”
Lachlan Murdoch, Fox Chairman and CEO:
“This means all of ESPN’s channels will be available to consumers as part of a comprehensive sports lineup, along with sports programming from other industry leaders.”
“I’m grateful to Jimmy Pitaro and the team at ESPN for being at the forefront of innovation and creating new products with greater choice and value for consumers.”
“We are excited to bring the history of Fox Sports to an exciting new platform,”
David Zaslav, Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros. Discovery:
“We believe this initiative will bring fans in one place. It goes beyond a lot of wonderful sports and culture.”
“At WBD, our goal has always been to connect our stories and brands to as many viewers as possible,”
“With this exciting deal and our combination of key sports rights and access to the world’s best sporting events, we want to do just that.”
“This new sports offering demonstrates our ability as an industry to drive innovation and offer consumers more choice, fun and value. We’re excited to deliver 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:
