Disney & fuboTV Ink Multi-Year Deal to Bring ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel, & More to Streamer

Disney Media Networks and sports-centric live streaming TV service fuboTV have a multi-year agreement to bring ESPN and Walt Disney Television properties to the streamer, the companies announced Wednesday.

Starting this summer, subscribers to fuboTV’s standard base package will have access to ABC, ABC News Live, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Freeform, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, in-market for SEC Network and ACC Network, FX, FXX and National Geographic, the announcement said.

The company has not yet announced if there will be a price hike associated with the additional channels. However, when they added Viacom and Discovery channels, they raised the price of the service from $45 to $55.

Additional networks will also be available on fuboTV’s other packages, including out-of-market for SEC Network and ACC Network, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, FXM, Fox Life, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo and BabyTV. The deal includes both live television and VOD.

“With the addition to our lineup of the ESPN suite of channels, we continue to make good on our promise to sports fans to be the undisputed home of professional and college sports. fubo is equally delighted to add the storied Disney, ABC, FX and Nat Geo networks to round out a robust programming portfolio for the whole family to enjoy,” fubo CEO and co-founder David Gandler said.

With the additional channels, fuboTV will now offer all 35 Top Cable Channels, more than YouTube TV (31), Hulu Live TV (26), AT&T TV NOW (23), & Sling TV (17-25).

Top 35 Cable Channels

Earlier this year, fuboTV dropped 21 Fox Sports RSNs and the YES Network after the parties couldn’t come to terms with Sinclair. The service had also lost the now Disney-owned channels FX, FXM, FXX, and Nat Geo, which it regains in the new deal announced Wednesday.

“Adding Disney’s array of networks across news, sports and entertainment content with ABC, Disney Channel, ESPN, FX, and Nat Geo delivers a more comprehensive channel lineup and tremendous value to customers’ subscriptions,” Sean Breen, Disney Media Networks EVP for Platform Distribution, said. “With fuboTV’s multiple access points across all major streaming platforms and a competitive price point, we continue to serve a growing audience that consumes video on multiple screens and attract new customers into the pay TV ecosystem.”

In the leadup to Wednesday’s announcement, the company had been quietly enhancing its Sports Plus and Extra plans with additional content for fans.

In March, fuboTV announced that it added NHL Network and MLB Network to its service. Those channels are included as part of its Sports Plus ($10.99) add-on (which also includes NBA TV, NFL RedZone & Pac-12 Networks), as well as their fubo Extra add-on ($5.99).

MLB Network Strike Zone, the league’s whip-around channel, is also available as part of the Sports Plus plan. In late February, fuboTV quietly moved NBA TV from their Standard Plan ($54.99) into the Sports Plus and fubo Extra tiers.

With the shutdown of PlayStation Vue, and the announcement last week that Sling TV would no longer carry the NFL Network, fuboTV is also now the only streaming service that carries NFL Network, NHL Network, MLB Network, and NBA TV.

With 315,000 subscribers, fuboTV still has a fraction of the subscribers of other Live TV Streaming Services, but the new deal will give fuboTV an edge in the sports streaming landscape.

Hulu Live TV is the largest at 3.3 million subscribers, which is ahead of of Sling TV’s 2.3 million subscribers and YouTube TV’s 2 million users. They have been gaining share on A&T TV NOW, which lost an additional 138,000 subscribers in the first quarter, leaving them with 788K subscribers.