ESPN live games, studio shows coming to Disney Plus app

Want live sports in your streaming bundle? Disney is making it happen by incorporating ESPN Plus into the Disney Plus app experience.

Shubham Sawarkar

ByShubham Sawarkar

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Shubham Sawarkar is a technology journalist at GadgetBond, covering Apple, AI, consumer technology, software, gadgets, and product launches. His work explores emerging technologies, industry developments, product...

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May 7, 2024, 10:00 AM EDT

Disney has recently announced its plan to integrate ESPN Plus into the Disney Plus app in an effort to expand its sports content offerings. The announcement came as part of the latest earnings report that Disney unveiled on Tuesday. This strategic move is aimed at enhancing the entertainment experience of Disney Plus subscribers.

According to Disney CEO Bob Iger, the ESPN integration will feature prominently on the Disney Plus interface, providing US subscribers with access to a curated selection of live games and studio programming. This initiative is seen as a prelude to the larger vision of bringing ESPN’s comprehensive sports coverage directly to Disney Plus viewers ahead of the standalone ESPN streaming service launch in the fall of 2025.

A first step to bringing ESPN to @DisneyPlus viewers ahead of the launch of a standalone ESPN streaming service in fall 2025

By the end of this calendar year, an ESPN tile will be added to Disney+📺 pic.twitter.com/355e0umStj
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) May 7, 2024

The move follows Disney’s earlier integration of Hulu into the Disney Plus app, symbolized by a redesigned logo. Notably, unlike the Hulu integration, Disney Plus users won’t require a bundle subscription to access ESPN content, although bundle subscribers will enjoy a broader range of ESPN Plus offerings via the new ESPN tile.

This article was originally published on May 7, 2024, at 10:00 am ET.