Disney hiking price of ESPN+ subscription to $7 a month

Disney is set to hike the monthly subscription fee for ESPN+ by one dollar, though the bundle that includes the sports streaming service will remain the same price.

In August 2021, ESPN+ will cost $7 a month, up from $6. The move mirrors a similar price hike for the Disney+ streaming service back in December 2020.

According to Deadline, the price for Disney's bundle that includes Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu will remain unchanged. Similarly, Disney won't raise the prices of its pay-per-view UFC rights.

During its most recent earnings report, Disney said that ESPN+ had 13.8 million subscribers. However, the company didn't reveal how many of those customers subscribed to a bundle instead of the ESPN+ service alone.

ESPN+ launched in April 2018 with a $5-a-month price tag. At the time, it had a limited number of live offerings for viewers, though it has since added more programming.

Disney is said to be one of the biggest bidders for the NFL Sunday Ticket deal. The current deal is set to expire after 2022 and the NFL is looking for a streaming partner. Current contenders include Disney and Apple, although the latter company is reportedly not seen to be as serious as others.

Apple, which has not raised the price of its Apple TV+ streaming service since launch, has yet to break into live sports programming. The Cupertino tech giant has expressed interest in the space in the past, however.

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13 Comments

sdw2001 23 Years · 17460 comments

About 3 years ago

ESPN is absolute trash. Completely unwatchable. outside of MNF and college football.

neverindoubt 16 Years · 120 comments

sdw2001 said:

ESPN is absolute trash. Completely unwatchable. outside of MNF and college football.

Outside of (by far) the most watched things on ESPN, ESPN is unwatchable.

Got it.

neverindoubt said:

sdw2001 said:

ESPN is absolute trash. Completely unwatchable. outside of MNF and college football.

Outside of (by far) the most watched things on ESPN, ESPN is unwatchable.

Got it.

A smart ass comment. Got it.

That wasn’t the case for two decades. People watched ESPN like some watch cable news today. From Sports Center to inside baseball to hydroplane racing….anyone interested in sports could watch almost any time of day. ESPN is now more interested in politics than sports. Even their MNF broadcast is terrible compared to 15 years ago.

wizardddd4 9 Years · 20 comments

I wish someone could tell me what the purpose of ESPN+ is.... You don't even get the ESPN main channels with it - I really don't understand what I would be paying for.

mpantone 18 Years · 2254 comments

sdw2001 said:

That wasn’t the case for two decades. People watched ESPN like some watch cable news today. From Sports Center to inside baseball to hydroplane racing….anyone interested in sports could watch almost any time of day. ESPN is now more interested in politics than sports. Even their MNF broadcast is terrible compared to 15 years ago.

So tune out if you don't like what's on the screen. No one can please everyone all the time. I like PBS's NOVA and not Antiques Roadshow or old lady yoga. Guess what? I change the channel when the latter comes up. It's not rocket science and I don't go on Q&A forums and whine about stupid PBS is.

In the past few days I watched both the men's and women's Wimbledon finals live as well as some of the semi-final matches and the Euro 2020 semi-finals and championship match. ESPN certainly continues to broadcast compelling sports events to the sports fan with wide interests.

If your interests are very limited, I can see how you might find the content that you aren't interested in as a drag. But over the decades, ESPN has basically evolved as viewers' interests have changed. That's why they remain a major sports broadcaster and are able to secure large TV contracts for some of the world's biggest sporting events.

ESPN also maintains a long tradition of hosting a bunch of irrelevant content, like 75% of all NCAA bowl games. There are about 30 bowl games and maybe 4-5 are meaningful as athletic contests.