The future of sports streaming at The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS)’s ESPN is under pressure from the NFL after the league announced Thursday that it would offer NFL Network and NFL RedZone through its own streaming service, NFL+.
The NFL+ basic plan will now cost $6.99 per month or $49.99 per year while its premium tier (that comes with NFL Redzone) will go for $14.99 per month or $99.99 per year. The premium level also includes ad-free game replays.
This is a big deal for Disney, which has long been expected to launch its own full-scale ESPN streaming service. CEO Bob Iger confirmed as much on the company’s earnings call this week.
That would mark a monumental shift from providing its channels through pay-TV partners, which has been ESPN’s model for decades.
Disney is banking on sports leagues investing in ESPN and thus getting a piece of the pie when it comes to streaming revenue, according to reports. However, if it doesn’t move quickly, the company could lose ground to services like NFL+.
ESPN+, the network’s existing streaming service, currently only offers limited live sports and no flagship NFL and NBA games. It costs $9.99 per month and had 25.2 million subscribers at the end of its latest quarter.
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