Disney’s new flagship home for streaming everything sports has, well, a whole lotta sports — live and on-demand. But does it make sense for you?
ESPN Unlimited combines a legion of options for watching highly anticipated games and other live sporting events, all under one streaming service. Disney calls the platform its ESPN flagship service, where you can now watch all of ESPN’s programming — no cable subscription or live TV streaming service required.What are the new ESPN plans, and what do they cost?
Again, there are two plans — Unlimited and Select — but the main attraction is ESPN Unlimited. It offers 12 ESPN networks and services: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, ESPN on ABC, ESPN Plus, ESPN3, SECN Plus and ACCNX. The subscription allows you to stream simultaneously on up to three devices for most content, all accessed in an upgraded ESPN app.
The ESPN Select plan is where ESPN Plus lives on for new and former subscribers. The ESPN Plus streaming service debuted in 2018 and provided extra content not available on ESPN’s main network, but not the NFL or NBA. Existing ESPN Plus subscribers automatically became ESPN Select subscribers with access to the same programming.
ESPN Unlimited costs $30 monthly or $300 a year on its own, and ESPN Select is $12 per month or $120 yearly (the same price as ESPN Plus). An Oct. 21 price increase will affect ESPN Select, raising it to $13 per month or $130 per year, and bundles that include ESPN Select. There’s also a stack of bundle options. You can get either ESPN Unlimited or Select with Disney Plus and Hulu. You can also choose bundles of ESPN Unlimited and NFL Plus Premium, which includes NFL RedZone, and starting Oct. 2, ESPN Unlimited and the new Fox One service.What are the ESPN bundles?
Bundling is big with the new ESPN streaming service. That route could appeal to you, as there’s probably more sports and entertainment you want to stream than just what’s available with ESPN Unlimited, and bundles could reduce the cost of having multiple services. Disney hopes to boost engagement and reduce churn (aka people cancelling and resubscribing) with bundle sign-ups, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
ESPN Unlimited or ESPN Select content will be available on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers or people with linked subscriptions. (You can similarly watch Hulu in the Disney Plus app.) I’m all for giving streaming entertainment fans more choice but there might be too many packages going on here.
The Disney services. You can get a trio of Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Unlimited (or ESPN Select instead of Unlimited). The version with ESPN Unlimited and ad-supported Hulu/Disney Plus costs $36 per month normally but there’s currently a promotion that reduces the price to $30 for your first 12 months.
A package with ESPN Unlimited and the ad-free versions of Disney Plus/Hulu costs $45 per month and $39 with the limited-time offer. If you purchase a Hulu plus Live TV plan, you’ll receive «access to the full ESPN Unlimited experience within the ESPN app.» The version of Hulu plus Live TV that gives you ESPN Select, ad-supported Hulu/Disney Plus costs $83 per month but it’ll rise to $90 per month on Oct. 21. You can stream some ESPN networks in the Hulu app and all other ESPN channels and services in the ESPN app.
NFL Plus Premium. If you have an ESPN Unlimited subscription or a Disney Trio bundle that includes ESPN Unlimited, you can add an NFL Plus Premium streaming subscription to the mix. Premium NFL Plus provides access to games on NFL Network, NFL RedZone and any local and national games on your phone or tablet. The bundle price for Unlimited with NFL Plus Premium is $40 monthly (NFL Plus Premium usually costs $15 per month or $100 per season). A combo of NFL Plus Premium, ESPN Unlimited, ad-based Hulu and ad-based Disney Plus usually costs $46 per month but a current offer makes it $40 for your first 12 months.
