Report: Disney, Verizon Have Discussions Regarding Potential Partnership for ESPN
Report: Disney, Verizon Have Discussions Regarding Potential Partnership for ESPN
The future of ESPN is coming, but viewers shouldn’t expect Disney to do anything precipitate with its sports channels. The company will explore all of its options for creating a streaming version of the full ESPN offering, with no cable or satellite subscriptions required.
That may include partnering with major tech companies who would be sold minority ownership stakes in ESPN. A new report from Sahil Patel of The Information says that mobile network and broadband provider Verizon has already officially spoken with Disney about such a partnership and that Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg has spoken with major league teams and sports leagues about his interest.
Telecom companies like Verizon have been targeted by Disney as a potential partner for ESPN specifically because of their increased distribution. The reach of cable and satellite in their salad days is hard to replicate, but a company like Verizon, which has 92.5 million wireless customers around the globe would certainly help. Offering a less-expensive version of the new ESPN streaming platform bundled with a user’s Verizon mobile plan would be an excellent way for Disney to boost distribution.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has made it clear this summer that he believes the future of TV at his company resides on streaming, not with linear distribution. ABC, Disney Channel and other linear TV networks have been identified by Iger as not “core” to Disney’s business going forward, and even ESPN itself could be for sale if the company can’t find the right strategic partner to help it transition to streaming.
All of the company’s moves thus far have pointed to the idea that it wants to keep ESPN in-house if at all possible. But that hasn’t stopped some Wall Street analysts from suggesting that Disney should sell its sports vertical now to Apple, allowing it to truly focus its future streaming efforts on Disney+ and Hulu.
Verizon and Disney have partnered on streaming ventures in the past; the mobile provider offered Disney+ to customers for a free year when that service was first launched in 2019. Disney+ famously added 10 million customers in its first day on the market, and if Verizon had a big hand in helping achieve that number, it will be a strong candidate to partner with Disney for a new streaming-only version of ESPN when it launches in the next couple of years.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”