What do new ESPN, Fox streaming services mean for sports fans?
What do new ESPN, Fox streaming services mean for sports fans?
With the streamers offering a wide range of sports content previously found only on linear channels, do the new streamers give fans reason to cut the cord?
Sports fans across the United States will have new ways to watch their favorite leagues and teams this fall. ESPN is launching its new streaming service ahead of the 2025 football season, and Fox’s will arrive around the same time. Both services will carry a wide range of sports that were not previously available outside of a cable, satellite, or live TV streaming subscription, which makes us wonder whether or not sports fans really need to keep their pay-TV plans once the services launch.
Key Details:
- Easy access: This fall will mark the first time all domestic NFL games are available outside the pay-TV bundle.
- Bundle and save?: Bundle opportunities with Peacock and Paramount+ would be highly advantageous for fans and content owners.
- Buyer beware: Without a bundle price, the cost of these sports streamers combined could rival cable.
In the past few days, more details about the new ESPN and Fox streamers have become available, including their names. Fox’s new service will be called Fox One while ESPN’s new platform makes things even easier; it will go to market with the very simple — if not confusing — name of ESPN, so as to avoid creating a new streaming service name that fans will have to keep track of.
The availability of ESPN and Fox’s programming without the need for a pay-TV subscription means that sports fans — particularly college football and NFL fans — will have greater access to games than ever before. Viewers will almost certainly be able to watch all domestic NFL games via streaming, with Sunday afternoon packages from CBS and Fox available on Paramount+ and Fox One respectively; “Sunday Night Football” on Peacock; “Monday Night Football” on the new ESPN; and “Thursday Night Football” on Prime Video. Fox has not explicitly confirmed that its NFL package will stream on Fox One, but it has said multiple times that Fox Sports properties will appear there.
Fox officials have also said that they’ll look for bundling opportunities for Fox One, and a combination with Paramount+ and/or Peacock would make a ton of sense. That would allow NFL and college football fans to bring together two or three key services at a discounted price, and it would make these services more desirable and less likely to cancel in the eyes of customers.
If viewers are thinking of ESPN and Fox’s new streamers as a reason to finally cut the cord, they may want to wait to see how much the services will cost. Most analysts believe ESPN will cost $25 to $30 per month by itself, and Fox One will be given a “healthy” starting price, according to Fox execs. Combined with the cost of Prime Video ($9 per month), Paramount+, and Peacock ($8 each), viewers could easily find themselves paying $60 per month or more for a package of all these services.
However, even if the price of all these streamers does rival a pay-TV plan, there is enhanced flexibility in such a setup. Viewers can cancel one of these given services at any time, for example, instead of being forced to pay the full price for each service in a long-term contract.
There will be other drawbacks for some sports fans that keep them from canceling their pay-TV service in favor of a stack of streaming services. For example, viewers in some areas won’t be able to stream content from regional sports networks without a traditional pay-TV plan. But the launch of ESPN and Fox’s new streaming services does create an exciting opportunity for fans who have been waiting for streaming access to this content before they cut the cord.
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