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ESPN Launches ESPN+, its Partial Answer to Cord Cutting

After several months of hype, ESPN today formally launched ESPN+, a new streaming video service the company claims finally gives cord cutters what they want. We've noted previously how that's not really true; what customers want is the ESPN broadcast channel in streaming video form at a reasonable price. What they're getting is a $5 per month direct-to-consumer subscription video service packed with a lot of content that wasn't quite interesting enough to be on vanilla ESPN.


Not that the offering is entirely pointless.

According to the ESPN+ website, the service will give you access to select MLB games, NHL Games, Boxing, Cricket, Rugby and more, each account getting access to five concurrent streams. A 7-day free trial is available, extended to 30 days for users who sign up before April 18th. As of today, ESPN+ can be viewed on Android, iOS, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and the web, though the lack of Roku support is going to be a turn off for many cordcutters.

“The launch of ESPN+ marks the beginning of an exciting new era of innovation for our media businesses--one defined by an increasingly direct and personal relationship with consumers," the company said in a statement. "This new product reflects our direct-to-consumer strategy focused on combining our beloved brands with our proprietary, industry-leading technology to give users unparalleled access to our world-class content."

ESPN is trying to pivot to cordcutter and cordnever demands after the company lost more than twelve million subscribers over the last few years. Most of these losses came via customers that either cut the cord, or subscribed to one of the slowly-emerging "skinny bundle" options that provide a pared down programming lineup for less money (though these remain few and far between).

One recent survey suggested that 56% of cable customers would drop ESPN if it meant not having to pay the $8 per month the channel is estimated to cost each cable subscriber. And among those that do want ESPN, many would like to be able to pay for a streaming version of the company's core ESPN channel offerings. That's again not really what this is, with most of ESPN's app content restricted to cable customers, but it's at least a start.

If you've given the app a spin, let us know your thoughts in the comment section below. If you're a cord cutter, is ESPN+ providing you what you want?

Most recommended from 26 comments


neufuse
join:2006-12-06
James Creek, PA

16 recommendations

neufuse

Member

Two months later...

due to extremely low subscriber rates... ESPN+ has been cancelled...