Disney hiking price of ESPN+ subscription to $7 a month

Posted:
in General Discussion edited July 2021
Disney is set to hike the monthly subscription fee for ESPN+ by one dollar, though the bundle that includes the sports streaming service will remain the same price.

Credit: Disney
Credit: Disney


In August 2021, ESPN+ will cost $7 a month, up from $6. The move mirrors a similar price hike for the Disney+ streaming service back in December 2020.

According to Deadline, the price for Disney's bundle that includes Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu will remain unchanged. Similarly, Disney won't raise the prices of its pay-per-view UFC rights.

During its most recent earnings report, Disney said that ESPN+ had 13.8 million subscribers. However, the company didn't reveal how many of those customers subscribed to a bundle instead of the ESPN+ service alone.

ESPN+ launched in April 2018 with a $5-a-month price tag. At the time, it had a limited number of live offerings for viewers, though it has since added more programming.

Disney is said to be one of the biggest bidders for the NFL Sunday Ticket deal. The current deal is set to expire after 2022 and the NFL is looking for a streaming partner. Current contenders include Disney and Apple, although the latter company is reportedly not seen to be as serious as others.

Apple, which has not raised the price of its Apple TV+ streaming service since launch, has yet to break into live sports programming. The Cupertino tech giant has expressed interest in the space in the past, however.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,014member
    ESPN is absolute trash.  Completely unwatchable.    outside of MNF and college football.  
    pscooter63davgreg
  • Reply 2 of 13
    sdw2001 said:
    ESPN is absolute trash.  Completely unwatchable.    outside of MNF and college football.  
    Outside of (by far) the most watched things on ESPN, ESPN is unwatchable.

    Got it.
    roundaboutnowmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 3 of 13
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,014member
    sdw2001 said:
    ESPN is absolute trash.  Completely unwatchable.    outside of MNF and college football.  
    Outside of (by far) the most watched things on ESPN, ESPN is unwatchable.

    Got it.
    A smart ass comment.  Got it.  

    That wasn’t the case for two decades.  People watched ESPN like some watch cable news today.  From Sports Center to inside baseball to hydroplane racing….anyone interested in sports could watch almost any time of day.   ESPN is now more interested in politics than sports.  Even their MNF broadcast is terrible compared to 15 years ago.  
    pscooter63davgreg
  • Reply 4 of 13
    I wish someone could tell me what the purpose of ESPN+ is.... You don't even get the ESPN main channels with it - I really don't understand what I would be paying for.
    pairof9pscooter63
  • Reply 5 of 13
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,030member
    sdw2001 said:

    That wasn’t the case for two decades.  People watched ESPN like some watch cable news today.  From Sports Center to inside baseball to hydroplane racing….anyone interested in sports could watch almost any time of day.   ESPN is now more interested in politics than sports.  Even their MNF broadcast is terrible compared to 15 years ago.  
    So tune out if you don't like what's on the screen. No one can please everyone all the time. I like PBS's NOVA and not Antiques Roadshow or old lady yoga. Guess what? I change the channel when the latter comes up. It's not rocket science and I don't go on Q&A forums and whine about stupid PBS is.

    In the past few days I watched both the men's and women's Wimbledon finals live as well as some of the semi-final matches and the Euro 2020 semi-finals and championship match. ESPN certainly continues to broadcast compelling sports events to the sports fan with wide interests.

    If your interests are very limited, I can see how you might find the content that you aren't interested in as a drag. But over the decades, ESPN has basically evolved as viewers' interests have changed. That's why they remain a major sports broadcaster and are able to secure large TV contracts for some of the world's biggest sporting events.

    ESPN also maintains a long tradition of hosting a bunch of irrelevant content, like 75% of all NCAA bowl games. There are about 30 bowl games and maybe 4-5 are meaningful as athletic contests.
    edited July 2021 muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 6 of 13
    JapheyJaphey Posts: 1,767member
    sdw2001 said:
    sdw2001 said:
    ESPN is absolute trash.  Completely unwatchable.    outside of MNF and college football.  
    Outside of (by far) the most watched things on ESPN, ESPN is unwatchable.

    Got it.
    A smart ass comment.  Got it.  

    That wasn’t the case for two decades.  People watched ESPN like some watch cable news today.  From Sports Center to inside baseball to hydroplane racing….anyone interested in sports could watch almost any time of day.   ESPN is now more interested in politics than sports.  Even their MNF broadcast is terrible compared to 15 years ago.  
    I have to agree with most of your comments. The people responding to you must not be old enough to remember the golden age of ESPN, or what tv was like before it existed. These days, ESPN seems more interested in itself and its “personalities” than in the actual sports it shows. Too many assholes sitting around arguing, trying to shout the loudest, thinking they know everything. Berman, Smith, Bayless, Vitale…they’re all annoying as shit. Plus, on a personal note, I hate Mark May because he always talks shit about my teams, lol. I don’t even know if any of those people are still on there, however, since I dropped that network years ago except for actual GAMES. After we sadly lost Stuart Scott, it just wasn’t the same anymore. 
    edited July 2021 sdw2001
  • Reply 7 of 13
    pairof9pairof9 Posts: 74member
    I wish someone could tell me what the purpose of ESPN+ is.... You don't even get the ESPN main channels with it - I really don't understand what I would be paying for.
    Hear! Hear! I remember being highly interested in the Disney+, HULU, ESPN+ package because I thought ESPN+ DID give you all the ESPN channels. So I have to get the meatier ESPN channels elsewhere to then pay separately for a bunch of overblown "insider" sports stories, reports, and insights I can find elsewhere?! That is audacious thinking by ESPN, IMHO.

    I agree...until the main ESPN channels are included, EPSN+ is not worth even $1/month. 
    wizardddd4
  • Reply 8 of 13
    Gotta pay for that Stephen A. Smith salary somehow.  
  • Reply 9 of 13
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,014member
    Japhey said:
    sdw2001 said:
    sdw2001 said:
    ESPN is absolute trash.  Completely unwatchable.    outside of MNF and college football.  
    Outside of (by far) the most watched things on ESPN, ESPN is unwatchable.

    Got it.
    A smart ass comment.  Got it.  

    That wasn’t the case for two decades.  People watched ESPN like some watch cable news today.  From Sports Center to inside baseball to hydroplane racing….anyone interested in sports could watch almost any time of day.   ESPN is now more interested in politics than sports.  Even their MNF broadcast is terrible compared to 15 years ago.  
    I have to agree with most of your comments. The people responding to you must not be old enough to remember the golden age of ESPN, or what tv was like before it existed. These days, ESPN seems more interested in itself and its “personalities” than in the actual sports it shows. Too many assholes sitting around arguing, trying to shout the loudest, thinking they know everything. Berman, Scott, Bayless, Vitale…they’re all annoying as shit. Plus, on a personal note, I hate Mark May because he always talks shit about my teams, lol. I don’t even know if any of those people are still on there, however, since I dropped that network years ago except for actual GAMES. After we sadly lost Stuart Scott, it just wasn’t the same anymore. 
    Exactly.  People don’t understand how dominant ESPN was and why.  
  • Reply 10 of 13
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,014member
    mpantone said:
    sdw2001 said:

    That wasn’t the case for two decades.  People watched ESPN like some watch cable news today.  From Sports Center to inside baseball to hydroplane racing….anyone interested in sports could watch almost any time of day.   ESPN is now more interested in politics than sports.  Even their MNF broadcast is terrible compared to 15 years ago.  
    So tune out if you don't like what's on the screen. No one can please everyone all the time. I like PBS's NOVA and not Antiques Roadshow or old lady yoga. Guess what? I change the channel when the latter comes up. It's not rocket science and I don't go on Q&A forums and whine about stupid PBS is.

    In the past few days I watched both the men's and women's Wimbledon finals live as well as some of the semi-final matches and the Euro 2020 semi-finals and championship match. ESPN certainly continues to broadcast compelling sports events to the sports fan with wide interests.

    If your interests are very limited, I can see how you might find the content that you aren't interested in as a drag. But over the decades, ESPN has basically evolved as viewers' interests have changed. That's why they remain a major sports broadcaster and are able to secure large TV contracts for some of the world's biggest sporting events.

    ESPN also maintains a long tradition of hosting a bunch of irrelevant content, like 75% of all NCAA bowl games. There are about 30 bowl games and maybe 4-5 are meaningful as athletic contests.
    First, I’ll post on any subject I want.  Secondly, ESPN is a shell of itself, so whatever they are doing isn’t working.  They’ve had layoffs, on air talent problems and changes, and all kinds of drama.  The network is lost.  Why anyone would pony up $7 a month for + is beyond me.  
    hexclock
  • Reply 11 of 13
    AppleishAppleish Posts: 683member
    We got the Disney Bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ because essentially the ESPN part is free with the other two. Haven't watched a single minute of ESPN. If this raises the price of the bundle, we will drop it.
    sdw2001
  • Reply 12 of 13
    I miss the days of the $5/yr ESPN the Mag which included Insider then ESPN+. My subscription (even though the Magazine itself was discontinued quite a while ago - I had a multi-year subscription) just expired. To me, ESPN+ is worth $5/yr for access to the (former) Insider articles on their website.

    In the years I had ESPN+, I only used it for that reason. Honestly, I couldn't figure out what good it was for beyond that, so clearly I would never pay $7/mo.
  • Reply 13 of 13
    davgregdavgreg Posts: 1,034member
    mpantone said:
    So tune out if you don't like what's on the screen. No one can please everyone all the time. I like PBS's NOVA and not Antiques Roadshow or old lady yoga. Guess what? I change the channel when the latter comes up. It's not rocket science and I don't go on Q&A forums and whine about stupid PBS is.
    The problem is Disney uses its ownership of OTA ABC (must carry rules) to force ESPN on every cable, satellite and streaming service and it amounts to a significant portion of your monthly bill. It is over $9.00 a month of direct subsidy to Disney - even people who do not watch the sports gossip of ESPN.

    https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/04/19/how-disneys-espn-makes-money-sports-broadcasting.aspx

    So it is not just about - if you do not like it do not watch it.
    edited July 2021
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