ESPN+ is actually ESPN minus the main channel and all of your local games
On April 12, Disney is finally launching ESPN+, a $4.99-a-month streaming service that is widely seen as Disney’s first toe being dipped into the growing pool of direct-to-consumer video streaming services. But unlike what you might think from a service called “ESPN+” you don’t get access to the main ESPN cable channel, or in fact any cable channel at all.
Instead, what you get is the right to stream, through the ESPN app, an inconsistent piecemeal mix of some games from a bunch of different sports, subject to regional blackouts. It’s a great solution if you want to have “some sports” playing in the background 24/7, but it’s not even close to being a replacement for cable, satellite or your crazy neighbor shouting the score from their balcony.
Almost every sport you can think of is represented in some way or another. There’s live games from the MLB, NHL, MLS, boxing, PGA Golf, pro tennis, college softball, rugby, cricket and every single college sporting event that you’ve struggled to find on regional TV before.
That doesn’t sound too bad, until you read the description of precisely what games you get. Take the NHL, for example: Subscribers get access to one game a day during the regular season, a total of 180 games. Regional blackouts apply, which means you won’t be able to watch your local team. So, what you do get to watch is one random hockey game a day, not from an area you care about, and no playoff hockey.
Anyone serious enough about hockey to be interested in watching two random non-local teams, not of their choosing, play regular-season hockey is likely just going to subscribe to NHL.tv instead, where they get access to all out-of-market games and they get to choose which one they want to watch. It’s the same story for MLB: Subscribers get one game per day throughout the regular season, with regional blackouts applying.
The college and minor sports make a little more sense, but even then, ESPN+’s coverage is decidedly non-comprehensive. Subscribers get to watch Wimbledon, the US Open and the Australian Open, but no other pro tennis tournaments are included. Rugby fans get the southern hemisphere games, but nothing from Europe or internationals.
In almost all cases, fans passionate about one particular sport have equally priced and more comprehensive ways of following that sport where they’re guaranteed to get every game, not some kind of odd sporting lottery that pretends getting “a” hockey game is the same as getting “the” hockey game. As a cheap add-on to a cable subscription for someone who generally likes watching lots of sports it might make sense, but that’s a particularly niche market ESPN is targeting there.
A new ESPN streaming service is invariably going to get a lot of attention because live sports is one of the big things that keeps people tied into cable, and ESPN has famously refused to unbundle its coverage from expensive cable packages or streaming services. But this is not a cord-cutter’s dream or a way to get around paying for cable sports: It’s an (admittedly cheap) top-up service that will sometimes have a game you want if none of the cable channels can be bothered to show it.