ESPN Announces New Streaming Service ESPN+
ESPN, the sports media network that touts itself as "the worldwide leader in sports," has joined the streaming fray and announced that it will offer a streaming service for sports fans for the low price of only $4.99 per month. According to the press release announcing the service which can be found here, ESPN+ will offer a "premier all-in-one digital sports platform for fans" including studio shows, a "library of award-winning on-demand programming," and "thousands of live sports events."
Digging deeper into the announcement though, the ESPN+ platform will contain the list of live events below:
One MLB game every day during the baseball regular season
One NHL game every day during the NHL regular season
A "selection of exclusive main event" boxing fights, and other undercard fights
Every out-of-market MLS game (subject to blackouts) and local-market Chicago Fire games
College sports from these conferences: "America East, ASun, Big South, Big West, Horizon, Ivy League, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley, NEC, Southern Conference, Southland, Summit League, Sun Belt, WAC, and many more."
PGA Tour coverage including Thursday, Friday, and "some" Saturday and Sunday play.
Grand Slam tennis coverage billed as a "complement" for tennis fans.
Rugby and cricket coverage
Keen sports fans will notice two major omissions on the above list. There's absolutely no mention of the NBA or NFL. That means neither of the NBA's two games on the ESPN networks will be broadcast via ESPN+ nor will Monday Night Football be playable through the streaming service.
Additionally, no live event that is broadcast on one of ESPN's current eight networks will be available through ESPN+. That means you should expect any of ESPN's shows you may actually want to watch. No Sportscenter, no First Take, no anything that appears on ESPN's flagship stations.
The announcement of ESPN+ also fails to mention who will be commentating and working the games that ESPN+ does broadcast live. Most likely, you'll see local broadcast teams working the games on the ESPN+ platform as there's little upside for ESPN to shell out the necessary funds to bulk up an already poorly run broadcasting crew.
ESPN has hinted at a streaming service for years, but many experts believed that the service would offer cord-cutters the ability to watch much of ESPN's live broadcasts as part of the service. With ESPN+, streamers get simply a complementary list of programming that gives almost nothing of value for the majority of sports fans. The service is fantastic for fans that want to see more MLS games, or some under-covered sports like rugby and cricket, but outside of that programming, there's little else to get excited about.
This is just another ball dropped by ESPN and its executives. On the bright side, this could be a step in the right direction with ESPN+ as it will allow ESPN to dip its toes in the streaming pool without shelling out a huge investment, but this could certainly backfire as the programming offered with ESPN+ is less than desirable and will likely give ESPN a poor look into the success that an ESPN streaming platform could have.
ESPN+, upon initial review seems like a complete flop, but here's to hoping ESPN can beef up the service shortly.
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