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ESPN Sets April 12 For Launch of ESPN+ Service

RadioPatrol said:
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/espn-sets-launch-date

Yes its an OTT service issued by ESPN and ESPN+ will cost $4.99 a month in the subscription.
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Still not certain how this impacts ESPN3, much of the programming on which is available to cord-cutters through their ISPs, who figure the fee into your bill. Of the events listed in the story, college sports, Top Rank Boxing and Grand Slam Tennis are currently available via ESPN3. So are selected MLB and MLS games. I haven't seen anything definite on how much of this will be put behind the paywall, although other articles quote ESPN as saying "thousands" of events will still be on ESPN3 and that some events will be on both platforms. I guess we'll just have to see what happens on the 12th.

The NHL is the real surprise here. The league hasn't been on any ESPN channel or platform for many years. I've read that ESPN+ coverage will start next season, not during this season's playoffs. Does that mean games on ESPN or ESPN2, or is this just a streaming deal, with TV coverage remaining on NBC and NBCSN?
 
UPDATE: Checking the upcoming schedule at WatchESPN, it looks like free-through-ISP ESPN3 will be practically eliminated on April 12. All the soccer is gone behind the paywall. All college sports but ACC games are gone behind the paywall. Golden Boy Boxing remains on ESPN3, but Top Rank Boxing is gone. The Commonwealth Games remain on ESPN3, but they end in a few days. MLB and NBA seem to be Spanish only on ESPN3. SEC and Longhorn Network are still available, but only to cable subscribers, which is status quo.

So this will be pretty much the end of ESPN3. I doubt the ISPs will be cutting the cost per customer they charge for this greatly diminished service. I'm sure there will be talk of ultimately futile class-action suits, which almost never work. It will be interesting to see what kind of subscription numbers ESPN+ generates. Being a college baseball and football fan and a follower of tennis and European soccer fan, I'll probably be ponying up the $5 a month. I'm surprised I haven't seen any instructions on how to subscribe yet. I guess the details are still being worked out.
 
CTListener said:
UPDATE: Checking the upcoming schedule at WatchESPN, it looks like free-through-ISP ESPN3 will be practically eliminated on April 12. All the soccer is gone behind the paywall. All college sports but ACC games are gone behind the paywall. Golden Boy Boxing remains on ESPN3, but Top Rank Boxing is gone. The Commonwealth Games remain on ESPN3, but they end in a few days. MLB and NBA seem to be Spanish only on ESPN3. SEC and Longhorn Network are still available, but only to cable subscribers, which is status quo.

So this will be pretty much the end of ESPN3. I doubt the ISPs will be cutting the cost per customer they charge for this greatly diminished service. I'm sure there will be talk of ultimately futile class-action suits, which almost never work. It will be interesting to see what kind of subscription numbers ESPN+ generates. Being a college baseball and football fan and a follower of tennis and European soccer fan, I'll probably be ponying up the $5 a month. I'm surprised I haven't seen any instructions on how to subscribe yet. I guess the details are still being worked out.
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ESPN has been making a lot of bad moves lately. "Get Up" their new morning show is not doing well in the ratings. "SC6" was a failure. I don't think this new streaming service will do the numbers they are hoping unless the content is there exclusively. Just killing off ESPN3 which people pay for currently through their cable bills won't force people to pay more money for ESPN+. They need a reason to go there. Maybe when they get the FOX RSN's they will be able to force people to pay for it.
 
TheBigA said:
I don't know that any "league" owned content (including NCAA) will ever be on any one site exclusively.
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I just don't see what content ESPN+ will add to get people to sign up unless they have something exclusive. The only people they can hope to target are those without a cable subscription. And do they care enough to spend $5 a month. Maybe if they take over Fox Sports Go and get access to content on the Fox Sports regionals they will have an audience.
 
Don CT said:
I just don't see what content ESPN+ will add to get people to sign up unless they have something exclusive. The only people they can hope to target are those without a cable subscription. And do they care enough to spend $5 a month..
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No cable, just Frontier internet and phone. $5 is more than fair considering the interest I have in the niche sports of college baseball, pro tennis, European soccer and boxing. I'm sure there are golf fans who will appreciate all that early round coverage, even if the weekend rounds are still on TV. It sure beats signing up for streaming packages from The Golf Channel, The Tennis Channel, various college conferences, etc., which will run you way more than $60 a year. Some cord cutters find ways to see the final rounds/big events on their own. anyway. It's not like the streaming sites have died.

ESPN+ isn't a perfect package by any means -- if it were, you can bet the initial price point would be much higher than $5. Since ESPN will still be getting money from the ISPs for the stuff that remains on ESPN3, any revenue ESPN+ brings to the table is basically gravy.
 
However, from what I'm reading, the $4.99 price is for BASIC. If you want MLB and NHL, they will be add-ons for an additional price. I suspect that will be the case for any of the major organized events that are also available at the sites owned by the particular sports. For example, the MLB isn't going to let ESPN offer all out of market games for $5, while their own app charges $99 a season. That would be crazy.
 
CTListener said:
Does that mean games on ESPN or ESPN2, or is this just a streaming deal, with TV coverage remaining on NBC and NBCSN?
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AFAIK, the NHL deal with NBC is until the 2020-21 season. That includes playoffs and All Star Game. Not sure what ESPN will be getting.
 
ESPN+ isn’t really for cord-cutters

https://www.techhive.com/article/3268037/software-sports/espn-isn-t-really-for-cord-cutters.html

The service, called ESPN+, will cost $5 per month or $50 per year, but won’t overlap at all with ESPN’s cable channels. That means no Monday Night Football, no Sunday Night Baseball, no playoff basketball, and no SportsCenter.

It also means no playoffs or championship matches for many of the sports that ESPN+ does cover. The rights to those events are still carved up among major broadcast and cable networks, regional sports networks, and ESPN proper. As a result, ESPN+ doesn’t make cutting the cord any easier.
 
https://www.theringer.com/sports/2018/4/2/17190026/espn-plus-streaming-service-april-12

As far as live events go, here’s what the service has:

One MLB game every day during baseball season.
One NHL game every day during hockey season.
A “selection of exclusive main event” boxing fights, and more undercard fights.
Every out-of-market MLS game (subject to blackouts) and local-market Chicago Fire games.
College sports from these conferences: “America East, ASun, Big South, Big West, Horizon, Ivy League, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley, NEC, Southern Conference, Southland, Summit League, Sun Belt, WAC, and many more.”
PGA Tour coverage including Thursday, Friday, and “some” Saturday and Sunday play.
Grand Slam tennis coverage that’s billed as a “complement” for tennis fans.
Rugby and cricket coverage.
 
TheBigA said:
However, from what I'm reading, the $4.99 price is for BASIC. If you want MLB and NHL, they will be add-ons for an additional price. I suspect that will be the case for any of the major organized events that are also available at the sites owned by the particular sports. For example, the MLB isn't going to let ESPN offer all out of market games for $5, while their own app charges $99 a season. That would be crazy.
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The way I read it, the $5 fee gets you one NHL and MLB game per day; I assume the MLB game will be the same as the one offered free daily on MLB.TV. I subscribe to MLB.TV, so I don't care if I see ESPN+'s game of the day or not. The NHL, I'm happy to listen to the games on SiriusXM and watch the goals and great saves on YouTube afterward. As I've said, I've found plenty to watch on ESPN3 over the years and I think $50 a year is a very reasonable price point for me to continue to do so with ESPN+. Other's mileage may vary, we'll just have to see what the numbers look like after the new service launches.
 
TheBigA said:
A game of their choice, I assume.
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Probably. MLB.TV seems to select its daily free games pretty randomly. Royals-Indians was offered a couple of days ago, Mets-Nationals yesterday, so it's not like they're only giving away games between non-contenders. If the NHL is doing the same thing, I'd imagine its game choices are similarly random. But realistically, the single games aren't going to sell ESPN+ subscriptions. The niche sports and non-power conference programming are.
 
The only time I can think of that I watched ESPN 3 was last year for a University of Memphis football game that wasn't on one of their other networks. I might want it for other similar lower level college football games, but if they go to ESPN+ I may only get it for college football season.
 
First day of ESPN+ and it seems that ESPN, not MLB, is making the call on which MLB game to offer to its basic subscribers to "The Plus." Today's free game on MLB.TV was Cleveland-Detroit, but ESPN+ is offering San Francisco-San Diego tonight instead.

Also, the NHL deal began tonight, the second night of the playoffs, with Toronto-Boston being offered to the basic crowd. Of course, blackout rules apply, so it wasn't available here in central Connecticut.
 
CTListener said:
First day of ESPN+ and it seems that ESPN, not MLB, is making the call on which MLB game to offer to its basic subscribers to "The Plus."
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I think that's what I meant when I said "their choice." I wouldn't expect MLB to give ESPN the exact same game on their platform. Why would you pay for plus to get a game that's free on MLB?
 
TheBigA said:
I think that's what I meant when I said "their choice." I wouldn't expect MLB to give ESPN the exact same game on their platform. Why would you pay for plus to get a game that's free on MLB?
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Good point. Different games set for today, too: Rangers-Astros on MLB.TV, A's-Mariners on ESPN+.

Looking over the next week's schedule, a definite trend emerges. ESPN+ is selecting either early afternoon (EDT) games or night games from the West Coast. Nothing that starts at 7 or 8 p.m. EDT at all. I'd imagine this is to protect the TV side's Eastern/Central prime time programming from cannibalization. MLB.TV is literally all over the map, because Major League Baseball really doesn't care where or when or over which channel you're watching baseball, just as long as you're watching baseball.
 
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