ESPN‘s future begins streaming on Aug. 21, and starting next year, it will have a lineup of notable new events joining it.
The sports media giant on Wednesday officially announced the launch date for its forthcoming streaming service, which will be called, simply, ESPN.
And at the same time, the company announced a major deal with the WWE, bringing its premium live events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and the Royal Rumble, to the service beginning next year, as well as an expanded rights deal with the NFL, including the NFL Draft, and a bundle that includes the NFL+ streaming service.
The service was officially unveiled back in May, with a $29.99 monthly price point and teased plans to bundle it alongside Disney+ and Hulu. But the news on Wednesday ensures that it will be up and running in time for football season. The service will live inside a completely redesigned ESPN app.
The major WWE rights, combined with the expanded NFL rights, provide additional ammo for the service to gain market share.
“WWE has an immense, devoted, and passionate fanbase that we’re excited to super-serve on our new ESPN DTC platform,” said ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro. “This agreement, which features the most-significant WWE events of the year, bolsters our unprecedented content portfolio and helps drive our streaming future.”
“We are proud to reinforce the ‘E’ in ESPN at such an exciting juncture in its direct-to-consumer journey. WWE Premium Live Events are renowned for exactly the type of rich storytelling, incredible feats of athleticism, and can’t-miss, cultural tentpole experiences that have become synonymous with ESPN,” added TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro. “Through our UFC relationship, we have experienced firsthand how transformational an ESPN presence can be, and we know this will be an exceptional partnership at a time of great innovation for both companies.”
The WWE events had most recently been on Peacock, where they had been seen as a notable driver of subscribers and a churn reducer. ESPN is betting that it can do the same for ESPN.
The announcements come just hours after ESPN announced a blockbuster deal with the NFL, which will take a 10% ownership stake in the company in exchange for NFL Network, and rights to RedZone and some additional NFL games, as well as for NFL fantasy. NFL Network will be bundled into ESPN’s streaming service when the deal closes, with other content joining as well.
“As we explored options, we kept coming back to our four letters, ESPN,” said Jimmy Pitaro during a press briefing in Disney’s New York office in May, framing the decision to name the service ESPN as “simple, straightforward, clear.”
The launch date for ESPN streaming also comes one day after Fox revealed the launch date of its own sports and news-centric offering, Fox One, which will launch Nov. 21 at a $19.99 per month price point. The steep price point reflects the tough economics of live sports and linear TV, and underscores just how much value the traditional TV bundle brought to the equation.