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ESPN+

On-demand sports streaming service

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From April 2018 to August 2025, ESPN+ was an over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, operating using technology of Disney subsidiary BAMTech, now known as Disney Streaming. As a streaming service, ESPN+ was marketed as an add-on to ESPN's core linear networks, with some of ESPN+'s content previously offered exclusively to cable subscribers via ESPN3 and the ESPN app. ESPN+ did not include access to these services, as they continued to only be available through television providers. Thus, some of ESPN's sports rights were not carried on ESPN+.

Remaining ESPN+-branded content includes combat sports (including coverage of the Ultimate Fighting Championship), college sports, hockey (including up to 50 exclusive National Hockey League games per-season and all out-of-market games), soccer, golf (including PGA Tour Live and coverage of the PGA Championship), tennis and cricket. MLB.TV, Major League Baseball's out-of-market sports package, also operated through Disney Streaming, is sold through the platform as an add-on. The service also featured archive content, ESPN original documentaries and access to premium content on ESPN.com.

ESPN+ was integrated into the ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service when it launched on August 21, 2025, with the previous ESPN+ streaming product rebranded as the ESPN Select subscription tier. However, ESPN+ will remain active as a programming brand for an unspecified period of time due to contractual obligations with some of its content providers. ESPN+ will also continue to be distributed to commercial establishments as a standalone package.

History

In August 2016, the Walt Disney Company acquired a minority stake in BAMTech, a spin-out of MLB Advanced Media's streaming technology business, for $1 billion, with an option to acquire a majority stake in the future. It was also announced that Disney subsidiary ESPN was planning to develop an over-the-top service based on BAMTech technology as "an exploratory OTT project", drawing primarily from ESPN-owned rights for events not broadcast on television. ESPN already used BAMTech's platform for its TV Everywhere service WatchESPN. Disney CEO Bob Iger remarked that despite declines in the pay television industry due to cord-cutting, "live sports has really thrived, even in a world where there's so much more for people to do and to watch."

In August 2017, Disney invoked its option to acquire a controlling stake in BAMTech, and announced that it planned to launch its ESPN OTT service in 2018, followed by a Disney entertainment OTT service in 2019 (thus ending its relationship with Netflix). At this time, Disney stated that the new ESPN service would draw from ESPN-owned sports rights, as well as MLB, NHL and MLS content (although lacking major ESPN-owned rights such as the NBA and NFL), and that an accompanying redesign of the ESPN app would make it a "premier digital destination" for sports content. During Disney's fourth-quarter earnings call, Iger revealed that the service would be known as ESPN+. In December 2017, Disney announced its intent to acquire 21st Century Fox after the spin-off of certain businesses. The deal was to include the Fox Sports Networks group of regional sports networks (which Disney was ordered to divest under antitrust grounds), which led to suggestions that Disney wanted to incorporate FSN's regional sports rights into the service.

In February 2018, Iger stated that ESPN was aiming for a monthly price of $4.99. ESPN+ and BAMTech were placed into the newly formed Disney business segment, Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International, on March 14, 2018. On April 2, 2018, ESPN announced that ESPN+ would officially launch on April 12, 2018, and confirmed its $4.99 per-month pricing.

On August 21, 2018, ESPN.com's existing subscription service ESPN Insider was discontinued and folded into ESPN+, adding its premium web content (such as exclusive beat reports, and advanced sports statistics, analytics and fantasy sports tools) to the service. Both services shared the same monthly price, but ESPN Insider subscribers continued to receive the complimentary subscription to ESPN The Magazine that was included (until its discontinuation in September 2019), and annual subscribers were grandfathered under its previous $39.99-per-year price (as opposed to $49.99 for ESPN+).

On October 31, 2018, ESPN executive Russell Wolff was named executive vice president and general manager. In October 2019, ESPN+ began to add pre-roll advertising to on-demand content on the service. Concurrent with the launch of Disney+ on November 12, 2019, the Disney Bundle was introduced, allowing users to subscribe to ESPN+, Disney+ and the ad-supported tier of Hulu for $12.99 per month.

On October 22, 2020, it was announced that a larger amount of ESPN.com articles (primarily analysis) would become paywalled behind ESPN+. It was also announced that video simulcasts of the ESPN Radio programs The Dan Le Batard Show, Greeny, The Max Kellerman Show and Chiney & Golic Jr., as well as Jorge Ramos y Su Banda, would be moved exclusively to ESPN+ from the ESPN networks.

In March 2021, ESPN+ programming became available via the Hulu website and apps for those who are subscribed to both services, via a branded "ESPN+ on Hulu" hub.

In July 2022, Disney announced that the standalone monthly price of ESPN+, which reached $6.99 per month in 2021 following two smaller increases, would jump by three dollars, or 43%, to $9.99 per month beginning in late August. Observers speculated that the increase was intended to promote uptake of the Disney Bundle, which continued at the then current $13.99 price point, while remaining competitive relative to other standalone sports streaming services.

Following a carriage agreement with Spectrum in September 2023, ESPN+ became available to Spectrum TV Select Plus subscribers at no additional charge; the agreement was also stated to include distribution rights to a future ESPN "flagship" streaming service, expected to launch in 2025, which would be a superset of both ESPN+ and the programming exclusive to ESPN's linear networks.

In December 2024, ESPN+ programming became available via the Disney+ website and apps for those who are subscribed to the services, via a branded ESPN hub; the hub also includes ESPN programming simulcast on Hulu.

In May 2025, Disney announced that the ESPN+ service would be effectively subsumed by the new ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service, with existing subscribers automatically becoming subscribers to the "Select" tier of the new ESPN DTC service. However, ESPN+ will remain separately active for an unspecified period of time due to contractual obligations with certain content providers, including Bundesliga, La Liga, and the UFC.

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