What Will the New Sports Streaming Platform From Disney, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery Cost?
It’s hard to imagine the new joint venture platform costing less than $40 per month, considering the sheer volume of sports it will have.
Sports fans are likely already crunching the numbers this morning, after it was announced on Tuesday that Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery would combine their live sports rights onto a new joint streaming venture this fall. This new platform will offer a truly impressive variety of contests, including games from all major American sports leagues, thousands of college sports events, and more. But the question that likely came to every fan’s mind as soon as they heard the announcement is, “How much will this set me back?”
- Reports indicate that the new joint venture streaming platform will cost less than cable or live TV streaming services.
- The high cost of securing live sports rights guarantees the new streamer won’t approach the relatively low price points of streamers like ESPN+ or Peacock.
- A starting price point of $40-$50 per month seems most likely for the Disney/Fox/WBD joint venture.
How Much Will This New Sports Streamer Cost Per Month?
There were no official details on the price of this new joint venture platform released by Disney, WBD, or Fox. The Wall Street Journal first broke the story, and reports that the streamer is expected to cost “significantly” less than the typical cable bundle. CNBC’s report on the new streaming service cites people close to the situation who state that even with promotional introductory pricing, a monthly price north of $30 per month is expected.
In The Streamable’s expert opinion, a starting price point of between $40 and $50 per month — after any applicable discounts — is a logical assumption for the JV streaming service. It will contain not just content from top sports channels like ESPN, FS1 and TNT, it will actually offer streams of those channels in full. The service will also carry college sports channels like the Big Ten Network and SEC Network, which are often not included in the base plans of most cable distributors.
All the channels that will be available on new joint venture streaming service.
| DTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Free 3-Day Trial | Free Trial | Get $10 Off | Sign Up | |||
| $79.99 | $91.99 | $76.99 | $25 | $40 | $40 | $72.99 | ||
| ABC | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | |
| ACC Network | + $29 | ✓ | ✓ | - | + $11 | - | ✓ | |
| Big Ten Network | + $15 | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | + $11 | ✓ | |
| ESPN | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | |
| ESPN2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | |
| ESPNEWS | + $15 | + $8 | ✓ | - | + $11 | - | ✓ | |
| ESPNU | + $15 | + $8 | ✓ | - | + $11 | - | ✓ | |
| Fox | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | |
| FS1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Fox Sports 2 | + $15 | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | + $11 | ✓ | |
| SEC Network | + $15 | + $8 | ✓ | - | + $11 | - | ✓ | |
| TBS | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| TNT | ✓ | - | ✓ | - | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
Currently, the cheapest way to get all of these channels is via a Sling TV subscription. A Sling base plan is $40 per month, but many of the sports channels coming to the Disney/Fox/WBD streamer are only available to Sling customers in the Sports Extra add-on pack for $11 per month more. Even then, the joint venture streamer will offer live sports from Fox and ABC, channels that Sling only carries in a handful of markets. In short, the JV streaming platform will offer even more live sports than Sling TV, and it’s unlikely to be priced substantially lower than that service even with the amount of entertainment channels Sling TV carries.
On the other hand, it seems highly unlikely that the new streaming service will cost more than $60 to $70 per month. That would approach the starting point of live TV streaming services like YouTube TV and DIRECTV STREAM which offer much more than just cable sports channels. The lack of additional entertainment options on Disney, Fox, and WBD’s new platform will keep the price lower than a traditional cable or live TV streaming package, at least in the short term.
One X-factor in the price of the new service will be viewers’ ability to bundle it. Reports indicate that fans will be able to bundle the JV sports streamer with Disney+, Hulu, or Max, and Disney has a history of offering deep discounts to customers who bundle its various streaming services together. A new, hypothetical Disney Bundle with ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu or WBD’s Max, plus access to the new service could come in at a price point of $50-$65, greatly improving its value.
It’s worth noting that by adding subscriptions to the ad-free tiers of Paramount+ and Peacock ($11.99 per month each), sports fans will be able to stream live sports from all four of the top broadcast networks with no cable subscription. Clearly, the new joint venture streaming platform from Fox, Disney, and WBD will provide customers with a great deal of choice in how they access live sports, and how many they pay for at once.
Will Live TV Streaming Services Lose Customers to New Joint Venture Sports Platform?
The announcement of this new streaming service likely caused some raised eyebrows in board rooms at companies like DIRECTV, Google, and Fubo. Customers who have subscribed to these services just to watch sports via broadcast and cable channels will certainly think about canceling their subscriptions, at the least, if the price is right. Sling TV might have the most to lose, as it comes in at a similar price point to our prediction for the new streamer, and offers fewer entertainment and news channels than its competitors like DIRECTV STREAM and YouTube TV. That will make it stand out from the new joint venture platform less, especially for sports fans who don’t live in an area where Sling carries ABC or Fox; Sling TV also does not have access to CBS in any market, meaning that sports fans already had to sign up for Paramount+ to fill in the gaps.
On the other hand, this new sports streamer could be fantastic for streamers like Philo who don’t offer any sports channels. Philo comes with around 70 channels like AMC, Comedy Central, Hallmark Channel, and Lifetime, but its lack of sports and local channels ensures that it can charge much less per month ($25) than the standard live TV streaming platform. Many customers might view a combination of Philo — or the even cheaper Frndly TV — and the new JV streamer as everything they need entertainment-wise.
Sports fans are usually willing to pay more to watch their favorite teams, but this new joint venture streaming platform will test that willingness once again. The Streamable predicts it will cost between $45 and $55 per month in its non-bundled form, so fans might want to start doing budgetary math now to find out how it will fit into their monthly entertainment costs.
ESPN+
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