Disney has at long last revealed the price of its upcoming ESPN+ direct-to-consumer streaming service, and it will cost $4.99 per month.
Disney CEO Bob Iger today confirmed the price of the service during his company fiscal first-quarter earnings call. Before that, he revealed details about the upcoming service, due to launch in spring, on CNBC.
The service will be a part of a new redesigned ESPN app. Iger said the app will focus on scores and highlights with improved UI and audio and video quality; live-streamed ESPN content from the network for pay TV subscribers; and the “Plus” service, which will include live sports not available on the linear ESPN networks as well as other programming like the 30 for 30 series of films.
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During today’s earnings call, Iger offered some more details about the ESPN streaming service. He said the new app will be running on the BAMTech engine and will use machine learning to improve recommendations and personalization for users.
“If anything points to what the future of ESPN looks like, it’ll be this app,” Iger said.
Last year, Disney confirmed the BAMTech basis for the ESPN streaming service when it announced it was paying $1.58 billion to buy another 42% (in addition to the 33% it already owned) in BAMTech.
“The media landscape is increasingly defined by direct relationships between content creators and consumers, and our control of BAMTech’s full array of innovative technology will give us the power to forge those connections, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to shifts in the market,” said Disney Chairman and CEO Robert Iger in a statement. “This acquisition and the launch of our direct-to-consumer services mark an entirely new growth strategy for the company, one that takes advantage of the incredible opportunity that changing technology provides us to leverage the strength of our great brands.”
Iger previously said that the regional sports networks that Disney is set to acquire in its $52.4 billion deal with Fox won’t be a part of the ESPN streaming service.