Ever since fuboTV launched, the main question about the service has been why doesn’t fuboTV have ESPN. Over the years, fuboTV has stated that they would like to add ESPN but the cost and requirements to include all Disney channels is one of the primary issues.
Now fuboTV has once again officially commented on why ESPN is not included in a statement posted on Reddit. They go into detail not only about why they don’t have ESPN but also on their relationship with Disney. Here is what fuboTV staffer had to say about ESPN on Reddit:
Hi everyone – considering ESPN has become a central subject in this thread, I figured we should take a moment to address it.
As a member of the fuboTV team, I can tell you this: we would love to add ESPN to the bundle, and we have had many discussions with Disney over the years. In fact, Disney is a fuboTV investor (through its acquisition of 21st Century Fox assets) and sits on our board.
However, as many of you know, neither fuboTV nor any other distributor is able to license “just ESPN” from Disney, instead, distributors are required to license the “Disney bundle”. There is no way around this. As such, we aught make the difficult decision of building a channel lineup that is both differentiated and affordable to consumers. If you look up the cost of the Disney bundle as estimated by SNL Kagan, you’ll see it runs for +$16 per subscriber, which would require fuboTV to revisit bundle pricing. Additionally, it’d come with high penetration requirements, which would limit our ability to offer a differentiated offer for different consumer cohorts.
With all that said, we know ESPN is important to many consumers, so I would not dismiss the possibility of Disney/ESPN coming to the lineup in the future. However, there are many implications around cost/pricing that ought to be considered.
fuboTV would like to have ESPN but the cost and requirements to have all ESPN channels is prohibitive. Sadly, unless fuboTV is willing to raise its price ESPN is not coming to fuboTV; however, adding ESPN is still a possibility if a deal can be reached.
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