ESPN, Warner Bros and FOX Join Forces to Launch Sports Streaming Service
It’s official – it looks like the Walt Disney Corporation, alongside Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corporation have finally joined forces to establish a new company that will allow live streams of major sports programming, in a deal that’s undoubtedly one of the biggest team-ups of this year so far.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new company will broadcast live streams of major sports events and content from several channels which will include ESPN, ABC, Fox, TNT and TBS for example, as well as select sports rights from all three companies on a “non-exclusive basis”. The service will be accessible both directly and as part of a bundle under WBD’s Max, Disney’s ESPN+ and Hulu. Disney CEO Bob Iger states:
“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… 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.”
Viewers will be able to tune into events from major sports leagues such as the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, UFC, the FIFA World Cup, NCAA basketball, college football, as well as Formula 1 and NASCAR. It’s expected that the new streaming service will make its debut later in the fall, although there’s no official word yet regarding pricing.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter