Sports streaming enters a bold new era

The rollout of ESPN and Fox's new streaming services this week represents a landmark moment for the sports industry, one where fans can finally start to expect a better bang for their buck. Why it matters: Sports streaming was supposed to make it easier for fans to watch their favorite teams, but over the past two decades, live rights became unwieldy, expensive and complicated. Now, two of the world's biggest sports networks are teaming up to solve that problem.State of play: On Thursday, ESPN and Fox both unveiled their highly anticipated new direct-to-consumer services, which include all of the sports rights currently available to their cable customers. Despite their rivalry, the companies will offer consumers a chance to buy the services together in a $39.99 per month bundle, starting Oct. 2.ESPN's service, titled ESPN, includes a slew of new fan-centric features, like an in-app merchandise store powered by Fanatics, data-filled portals linked to ESPN Bet and ESPN Fantasy and a multi-view option that allows fans to watch multiple live games at once. Fox's new service, called Fox One, also provides multi-view functionality and new features including unlimited storage for livestream recordings, a personalized content library and short clips to help users catch up on games. Both services are available to ESPN and Fox's existing cable subscribers at no extra cost. ESPN's new service is also available as a bundle with Disney+ and Hulu.Between the lines: What makes both new streamers so groundbreaking is that each is built to serve as a broader content platform, rather than just a repository for their own programming and live rights. That will make it easier for ESPN and Fox to offer bundled packages that can help lower the overall cost of streaming for consumers. Zoom in: Both networks are starting to invest more in new companies and leagues that they can use in their bundles.ESPN acquired the NFL Network as a part of a larger strategic deal with the NFL earlier this month, which it will include in its new service. ESPN made a minority investment in the Premier Lacrosse League in June, as a part of its renewed media rights deal with the league. I asked Fox One CEO Pete Distad this past week whether Fox is eyeing a similar platform model for other leagues and programmers."I guess you could argue we kind of created that with this," he said, while noting the service will include access to the Big Ten Network, of which Fox has a 61% stake.Fox One also includes news and entertainment programming from across its networks. While that doesn't include content from Fox News' subscription streamer, Fox Nation, those can be added via a bundled offering.Distad said the company is currently working to identify podcasts that are part of Red Seat Ventures, a creator company it acquired earlier this year, that would make sense for the service.Data: Axios research; Chart: Jacque Schrag/AxiosWhat to watch: The streaming platform shift has huge implications for local sports fans, who are currently struggling to navigate a convoluted rights ecosystem as regional sports networks falter. (See above.) Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred wants to nationalize the league's local sports rights deals with a big streamer when the majority expire in 2028. ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro has been vocal about ESPN's interest in housing the MLB's live rights. "We are engaged. We are having healthy conversations with them," he told reporters Wednesday. "Nothing to announce today, but we're very interested in baseball in general, but also local content."The bottom line: "I think there's a lot of mess out there right now in terms of bundling," Distad said. "No one has the answer, but that's why we built this flexibly."Go deeper: Streaming enters its profit era

Comments

World news

Independent

Parents arrested after 11-year-old daughter gave birth at home with no doctor, police say

about 2 hours ago

Independent

Vance boasts Trump’s ‘energetic diplomacy’ will end Ukraine war as Russian foreign minister says no Putin-Zelensky meeting in sight

about 2 hours ago

‘Doesn’t feel like peace to me’: Ukrainians in the UK fear war will never end after Trump-Zelensky meeting

Independent

Comments

Similar News

Pokémon, sports trading cards have leveled up from nostalgia to retail gold

Members of Congress Seek to Expand Sports Diplomacy

Women in Indian Sports Sweat for Their Share of a Booming Market

Why sports gambling is more dangerous than ever before

She’s Got Next: Founders rally in Vancouver behind historic firsts in women’s sports

Surrey rolls out dozens of new free sports equipment borrowing stations

The hidden forces ruining youth sports

Trump rebukes crowd for not applauding ban on transgender women from female sports

Trump gets more sports medals he didn’t earn as his collection grows with Olympic triumphs

NYC gunman who blamed NFL for hiding brain injury dangers suffered from sports concussion, mom said

Murder horror as man is found eviscerated with his throat slit and laid out 'in the sign of the cross' on French sports ground

Germany’s biggest sports retailer considers moving production into China

Life-jackets mandatory on the river, Edmonton reminds water sport enthusiasts

Controversial NFL legend tells Trump he has no idea why he’s been invited to sports commission

The Lionesses have inspired us all – now make it count for women’s sport

Men – it’s time to admit women’s sport is better

How Britain got serious about sport

Girl, 13, dies after being hit by puck during sports' match

World news

Parents arrested after 11-year-old daughter gave birth at home with no doctor, police say

Vance boasts Trump’s ‘energetic diplomacy’ will end Ukraine war as Russian foreign minister says no Putin-Zelensky meeting in sight

‘Doesn’t feel like peace to me’: Ukrainians in the UK fear war will never end after Trump-Zelensky meeting

Two married couples found dead in UK-registered car after crash in Germany

Mystery billionaire behind £10,000,000 plans for first Titanic trip since Titan disaster

US officials ‘have stopped Ukraine firing missiles at Russia for months’

Liberals, you now have a duty to hang the St George’s flag

The hypocrisy in defending Lucy Connolly

Gaza’s famine: Malnourished mothers and babies too weak to survive

Cut electricity bills by scrapping green levies, say Labour MPs

"No authority": Dems flame Trump's proposed Chicago crackdown

At least 1 dead in Moscow shopping center explosion, 3 injured

Tens of thousands march across Australia in support of Palestinians

Israeli military strikes Houthi regime in Yemen after 'repeated attacks'

Nigerian military airstrikes free 76 hostages, including children

Jays recall Schultz, option Fluharty to minors

Moscow says Kyiv has struck a nuclear power plant as Ukraine marks independence day

Recipe: Som Tum Thai (Green Papaya Salad)

Haunting final words of death row’s oldest inmate seconds before his execution

Air India expert has new theory for why plane crashed moments after take-off

Scientists search for climate change answers in Quebec sea floor

American Airlines flight makes emergency landing after passenger’s device catches fire

‘Sanaa wasn’t a statistic’: Baby who ‘knew nothing but war’ dies of malnutrition as Gaza crisis deepens

Meet the village of Polish grannies crocheting the latest hot trend in lingerie

Israel carries out dozens of strikes on Yemen’s capital near presidential palace

Peeling Back the Curtain on the CIA

Yvette Cooper is right to ban Palestine Action, say voters

How Trump’s new tariffs will impact the UK

Bands pull out from festival after group 'cut off' over Palestine flag

Vance says redistricting push is a way to make representation "a little bit more fair"

Are these the AI music industry jobs of the future?

Israeli forces kill 4 more aid seekers as northern Gaza braces for looming offensive

Haunting final video of climber now trapped 23,000ft up mountain with broken leg

Oddball kills his mum then owns up to 600 murders but there's a shocking twist

Three sisters drown in migrant boat in Mediterranean, rescuers say

More than 500,000 ordered to evacuate as typhoon heads for Vietnam

Israel pounds Gaza City in preparation for planned offensive

Mother of 23-year-old who died after Anthony Henday crash speaks

What is Vibrio vulnificus? Symptoms explained as beachgoers warned about flesh-eating bacteria

Epstein victim’s family says Ghislaine Maxwell got to ‘rewrite history’ in DOJ interviews: Live updates

Gen Z created a new type of man to avoid

Nuclear priests or glowing cats – how to warn future generations of atomic waste

Newcastle, Yasir Al-Rumayyan and the Alexander Isak soap opera

Sports streaming enters a bold new era

RFK Jr., allies rush to rally the MAHA movement for 2026

Inside Trump's American identity project

Mum horrified after discovering 'disturbing' hidden message in daughter's dress

How Ukraine and Russia will view Trump's attempts to broker a peace deal

Revealing Taste

Carney delivers message of solidarity in Ukraine on its Independence Day

Carney not ruling out Canadian troops on ground in Ukraine

Drones, armoured vehicles part of Canada’s $2B military aid package for Ukraine

Number of female Canadian soldiers on UN peacekeeping missions craters

Moscow blames Ukraine drone attack for nuclear power plant fire

Zelensky thanks King Charles for ‘inspirational’ letter sent to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day

Trump ups number of wars he claims to have ended from 7 to 10: ‘If you think about pre-wars’

The Supreme Court could give immigration agents broad power to stop and question Latinos

Four found dead in car with British number plate after crash in German forest

We used to stash gold in Fort Knox. What if we did the same with carbon?