ESPN has long been known for being a leader in the world of sports. Now it wants to make finding and watching your favorite team even easy.
The plan by ESPN is to let you launch other streaming services directly from the ESPN website. The hope is in the future, you will be able to go to the ESPN website, look at a list of NBA games, for example, and be able to watch each one no matter who is broadcasting the service, according to CNBC.
As more content goes online, the dream has been to have it all in one spot. Now ESPN wants to make that a reality. With Amazon, Apple TV+, RSNs, Fox, CBS, NBC, RSNs and more, all streaming sports having one location to help you find it will make being a sports fan even easier.
The catch here is ESPN wants a cut of new subscriptions in order to offer this service through its website or app. If you already have the service, ESPN won’t get anything, but if you signup for the service through the ESPN link, Disney will get a cut for it.
Many sports services already offer an affiliate program like this. The problem is whether Disney will be willing to work with companies that do not offer such an affiliate program. Or will ESPN limit this to only partners it has deal with?
For now, there is nothing stopping ESPN from doing this other than the hopes of monetizing such a service. ESPN already often lists what channels a game is on even if it is not owned by Disney. Adding a link to a streaming service with that game should be easy.