Last month, Walt Disney’s ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced a new streaming bundle that will offer 16 live sports channels and none of the non-sports related channels. For sports fans, this may be the dream service, letting them watch sports without paying for things like the Disney Channel or MTV. Today Pete Distad was named as CEO of this new streaming service once it is formed.
With this deal, Pete Distad has been named CEO of a company not yet made. According to the press release, he will oversee the forming of this company, including building its board of directors, to whom he will later report.
“This is an incredible opportunity to build and grow a differentiated product that will serve passionate sports fans in the US outside of the traditional pay TV bundle,” Distad said. “I’m excited to be able to pull together the industry-leading sports content portfolios from these three companies to deliver a new best-in-class service.”
ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery added the following joint statement: “Pete is an accomplished innovator and leader who has extensive experience with launching and growing new video services. We are confident he and his team will build an extremely compelling, fan-focused product for our target market.”
Distad is a veteran of streaming, being involved with Hulu in the early years and later at Apple TV. Now he will lead the push to launch this new streaming service.
So, what is this new streaming service? Here is everything we know:
Pricing:
Early reports had the service costing more than $30 a month. Later, some reports said it would likely cost $40 to $50 a month. Now Fox says the service will be in the “higher ranges” of the estimates, likely meaning the service will cost between $40 and $50 a month. This is from Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom conference this month.
No official final price has been announced for this new service.
Release Date:
It is reported that this new streaming service will launch in the late summer of 2024. It is hoped to be live in time for the start of the college football season.
Streaming Through Max, Hulu, & Others:
At Warner Bros. Discovery’s 4th quarter 2023 earnings call it confirmed that this new service will be bundled with Max. Disney has already confirmed that you will be able to subscribe to this new streaming service through services like Hulu and ESPN+.
Here’s a list of the channels that you would be getting:
- ESPN
- ESPN2
- ESPNU
- SECN
- ACCN
- ESPNEWS
- ABC
- FOX
- FS1
- FS2
- BTN
- TNT
- TBS
- truTV
- ESPN+
Here’s a list of what will be available on the service:
| Pro Football | NFL | UFL |
| Basketball | NBA | WNBA |
| BASEBALL | MLB |
| HOCKEY | NHL |
| COLLEGE SPORTS | Thousands of games and events, multiple sports, across nearly two dozen conferences, including:ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, SEC | 40 NCAA Championship Events |NCAA Men’s & Women’s Basketball Tournaments |The College Football Playoff |
| Golf | PGA Tour | PGA Championship | The Masters | TGL |
| Grand Slam Tennis | Wimbledon | US Open | Australian Open |
| CYCLING | Giro d’Italia | UCI Mountain Bike World Cup | Giro Donne |
| Soccer | FIFA World Cup | U.S. SoccerNWSL | MLS | LALIGA | Bundesliga | UEFA | CONCACAF |
| Combat Sports | UFC | Top Rank |
| Auto | Formula 1 | NASCAR | 24 Hours of Le Mans |
For now, we will have to wait and see what is announced later this year to confirm pricing and release date.
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