Today sees the launch of the new ESPN streaming service from Disney in the US, signalling the first time the 46-year-old sports network’s programming will be available outside pay-TV. It also marks the arrival of a new streaming service from Fox, devoted to its news and sports properties, with NFL games set to stream on the Fox One service this autumn.
Their arrival comes seven months after Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shelved their planned joint streaming service for sports, sending the networks their separate ways on their sports streaming journeys.
Bypassing cable
The new streaming services land amid the continuing erosion of pay-TV viewing in the transition to streaming in the US. Cable’s share of viewing fell again in July 2025, according to Nielsen’s latest The Gauge report, accounting for 22.2 percent of TV viewing across the month, compared with streaming’s 47.3 percent share.
And Disney is aiming to reach customers that ESPN has lost to cord-cutting over the past 15 years. According to Reuters, ESPN was available in 100 million homes in 2010. In July, it was down to 61 million.
But sport remains a key driver (arguably one of the last) for live TV viewing, and ESPN was the second-most watched cable network in 2024, according to Nielsen. But the nature of cable packages means sports fans have to pay for channels they do not necessarily watch. This dynamic has caused friction between US broadcasters and pay-TV providers, with broadcasters upping their carriage fees over the years, in turn pushing the cable operators to pass the price rises onto consumers. The last two years have seen Disney channels go dark on DirecTV and Spectrum during high-profile sports coverage, as negotiations broke down over financial arrangements.
By “unbundling” the sports channel from its non-sports offerings, Disney is able to attract subscribers with a lower price point than they get on pay-TV. The new service will cost $30 per month, with an introductory offer that includes ad-supported versions of Disney+ and Hulu. And the company is seeking to attract younger viewers through a scrollable, vertical video highlights feature on the mobile app called ‘Verts.’
Fox One meanwhile is available for $20 per month, also aiming to draw in younger viewers without cannibalising its core cable audience built around Fox News (the most-watched cable channel in the US), whose average viewer is 69 years old, according to Nielsen. Rather than go all in on streaming, the Murdoch-owned network has said its investment in the service would be “measured”, targeting viewers outside the pay-TV ecosystem.
Further shifts for sports towards streaming services are underway at Paramount Skydance, which announced its $7.7 billion UFC deal last week. The agreement brings the mixed martial arts league away from ESPN, where it was available through a pay-per-view model, onto the Paramount+ streaming service. Paramount will look to grow the sport’s fanbase by making the events available to its subscriber base at no extra cost.
Adding up
But while the migration of sports to streaming services may be cheaper for consumers on an individual basis, the cost of subscriptions required to follow multiple sports franchises adds up. Reports last month suggested NBCUniversal was planning a counter-move to launch a sports-focused cable channel, four years after shuttering the NBC Sports Network. Reports suggested the unusual move could help address frustration among sports fans having to subscribe to multiple streaming services, whose subscription fees are increasing.
The prospect of major sports franchises coming to free streaming services is therefore enticing, and this year saw Fox offer a livestream of the Super Bowl on its free ad-supported streaming service Tubi. Today also sees the launch of the Yahoo Sports Network, a free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel whose coverage includes the NFL, NBA and MLB.
FAST services have seen an influx of sports content over the past few years, with sports channels now making up 13.6 percent of FAST channels globally, according to Gracenote, Nielsen’s content division. But given the expensive nature of sports deals, these channels tend to focus on highights, archive and documentary content, and live rights for major sports in the US generally remain the preserve of the largest TV and streaming players.
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