- Disney is adding to a growing number of sports streaming options for viewers this year.
- It’s combining Fubo with Hulu + Live TV and making ESPN available in multiple ways.
- Disney CEO Bob Iger said the goal is to make ESPN as “accessible as possible.”
Disney CEO Bob Iger has a guiding principle for ESPN: Make it “as accessible as possible and in as many ways as possible.”
That’s what Iger said on an earnings call Wednesday when asked by an analyst about “consumer confusion” that could arise from Disney’s complicated sports strategy.
To recap: Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced last year they would team up to launch Venu, a sports streaming service, only to scrap it in January. (They’d settled an antitrust lawsuit with the streaming TV service Fubo, but other potential legal challenges were looming from other TV providers, who said they were being prevented from launching a similar service.)
Then, in another head-turning move, Disney said it would basically buy Fubo itself and merge it with Disney’s Hulu + Live TV service. As part of that deal, Fubo can launch a new “skinny” bundle of Disney properties that show sports, like ESPN and ABC.
Making matters even more complicated for sports fans, Comcast and DirecTV are launching their own skinny sports bundles — both of which will include ESPN.
Disney also still plans to launch its own ESPN-only “flagship” service this fall.
It’s difficult to keep all of Disney’s sports moves straight, which has led some analysts to raise the concern that all these options could confuse viewers.
On Wednesday, Iger walked through the company’s various moves to try to explain why the company is planning so many options for ESPN.
“After the decision was made and we decided to implement the launch of Venu, the emergence of these skinnier bundles surfaced,” he said. “And Venu basically looked redundant to us.”
Iger went on to say he felt this was a “great opportunity” because now ESPN can be available in multiple skinny bundles, in keeping with Disney’s goal of giving people a menu of ways to experience ESPN. He said Hulu + Live TV was never a core thing for Disney, so merging it with Fubo makes it a more attractive business.
As to ESPN flagship, that’s for the hardcore sports fan. Iger said the upcoming streamer, which Disney plans to launch in the fall, would be enhanced with betting, fantasy games, and a high degree of customization and personalization.
“We have the advantage of not only sports, but we’re on 365 days a year, 24 hours a day,” he said. “It’s about sports every single day of the year. That’s a pretty compelling consumer proposition.”
