Breaking: ESPN, FOX, and WBD Joining Forces to Launch Streaming Sports Service in the US

In an unprecedented move set to redefine sports streaming in the United States, ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery have announced that they will collaborate to launch a groundbreaking sports streaming service. This joint venture is designed to consolidate each company’s extensive sports content offerings, including the popular ESPN+ direct-to-consumer (DTC) service, into a single, innovative platform.

Key Points:

• ESPN, FOX, and Warner Bros. Discovery enter into a groundbreaking partnership to launch a new sports streaming service in the U.S. by fall 2024.
• The new sports service will include NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college sports, PGA TOUR, Grand Slam Tennis, the FIFA World Cup, and more, all in one app.
• The service will be available through a newly developed standalone app, with potential bundling options including Disney+, Hulu, and Max.

Scheduled for release in the fall of 2024, this new service aims to cater to dedicated sports fans by providing a comprehensive array of sports content through a specially designed standalone app. This venture represents a strategic union of the vast sports broadcasting and digital services of the three media giants, featuring live sports broadcasts and on-demand content from major leagues and sporting events across the globe.

Subscribers to this new service will gain access to a wide range of sports content, including professional football, basketball, baseball, hockey, college sports, golf, tennis, cycling, soccer, combat sports, and auto racing. This includes flagship events such as the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, college sports, UFC, PGA TOUR Golf, Grand Slam Tennis, the FIFA World Cup, and many others.

The service will be available directly to consumers through a newly developed app, with options to bundle it with existing streaming services like Disney+, Hulu, and Max. This initiative is not only a significant step for ESPN, FOX, and WBD but also a major win for sports fans, offering a more diversified and enriched viewing experience outside of the traditional pay-TV bundle.

While details on pricing and the full scope of content offerings are forthcoming, the announcement promises a new era of sports entertainment, bringing together some of the most coveted sporting events under one roof for fans across the United States.

It remains to be seen how this development will impact Disney's previously announced plans to develop a standalone streaming service that provides access to the full complement of ESPN linear and streaming content. The company had openly discussed bringing on partners to assist with the project, talking to major sports leagues as well as other media entities. It is unclear at this point if this new joint venture precludes that streaming service from coming to fruition in the near future, but Disney executives will assuredly field questions about it during their Wednesday afternoon earnings report call with analysts and investors.

“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,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said. “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.”

This joint venture, in which each company holds an equal share, underscores a shared vision for innovation in sports broadcasting. The service will operate under a new brand, guided by an independent management team, ensuring a fresh and focused approach to sports streaming. Last fall, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it was bringing its collection of sports content from across its domestic channels — including TBS and TNT — to Max as part of its new Bleacher Reports Sports Add-On. The initial plan was to make it free to Max subscribers for five months before beginning to charge $9.99 in March 2024, just in time for the start of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

However, last month, WBD announced that it was delaying the transition to making the sports tier a paid feature on Max. At the time, the company simply said that it was due to “tech integration issues,” but it certainly seems possible that it had less to do with integrating its current content with Max, and rather with merging its offerings with Disney and Fox.

“At WBD, our ambition is always to connect our leading content and brands with as many viewers as possible,” the company’s CEO David Zaslav said in a statement, “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.”

Fox does not operate a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming service, but it does own the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) and ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) platform Tubi. While the streamer has never been the home of live sports, it has occasionally been used to supplement the company’s sports coverage on linear channels. During the 2022 World Cup, Tubi was the on-demand home for every match after it concluded on one of Fox’s broadcast or cable channels.

The company’s CEO Lachlan Murdoch has said that Fox is “ready to go” with the launch of a DTC service, but didn’t think that the finances were right yet. However, as sports rights get increasingly expensive and traditional pay-TV viewing numbers continue to erode, this partnership might provide the perfect opportunity for Fox to get more fully involved in the streaming era.

“We’re pumped to bring the FOX Sports portfolio to this new and exciting platform,” Murdoch said. “We believe the service will provide passionate fans outside of the traditional bundle an array of amazing sports content all in one place.”

The Streamable has reached out to each company for additional information and will continue to report on this developing story.