Disney has revealed that Disney Plus subscribers should expect to get more for their money — and relatively soon.
In the lead-up to the company's earnings call, Disney executives revealed that the company is planning to add more ESPN content to its primary streaming service.
During an interview with CNBC, Disney finance chief Hugh Johnson said of Disney Plus said "It’s going to be the portal into all things Disney." (h/t The Wall Street Journal [paywall). The plan is to add new Disney Plus-exclusive live sports shows as well as a daily episode of ESPN's flagship studio sports show "SportsCenter" sometime during the upcoming year.
This falls in line with comments made by ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro in an interview with CNBC back in December of last year. In that interview, Pitaro laid out a plan to offer Disney Plus subscribers an exclusive edition of “SportsCenter” just for Disney Plus subscribers as well as a women’s sports show that is tipped to air anywhere from weekly or several times a week. In that same interview, it was also indicated that ESPN Plus would get integration within the Disney Plus app similar to what Disney has done with Hulu.
However, just because Disney Plus is getting new sports content doesn't mean that's Disney's only plan for giving consumers more access to live sports. Disney is also planning to launch a direct-to-consumer ESPN streaming service — yes, different from ESPN Plus — sometime in early fall.
This move has long been expected though it's unclear exactly how it will fit in Disney's streaming ecosystem. One thing we do know is this new ESPN streaming service will include sports betting and fantasy sports integrations, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.
2025 is the year of the new streaming service
Disney is just one of several companies working on new sports-focused streaming services this year. In fact, this isn't even the first move we've seen from Disney in the sports streaming space in 2025.
That honor goes to when the media giant merged Hulu + Live TV and Fubo to end a lawsuit Fubo had filed against Venu Sports. Not long after that, Disney—along with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery—killed Venu before it even rolled out to customers.
Venu being cut from the team has seemingly opened up room for new players. DirecTV has since launched MySports, which is a sports and news-only DirecTV Stream streaming package with 40 channels and more on the way.
Fox has also announced a new sports and news streaming service that is expected to come by the end of 2025. It seems they'll now be joined by this new ESPN standalone service as well as a revamped Disney Plus with a stronger sports offering.
