The ESPN+ streaming service will launch on April 12 and subscribers can "get access to a lineup of live sports" for $4.95 per month, according to Natalie Jarvey of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. ESPN+ will offer a live MLB game "every day during the regular season, amounting to more than 180 games." It will offer a "similar daily schedule" of NHL games during the '18-19 regular season. Soccer fans will have "exclusive access" to full MLS out-of-market schedule, while Chicago-area subscribers "will be able to view in-market" Fire matches. ESPN+ also will offer "boxing matches, college sports, PGA Tour golfing events, Grand Slam tennis tournaments and international rugby and cricket matches." For an additional $25 per month, ESPN+ subscribers can also "purchase the full MLB.TV out-of-market package." A similar offering will also "launch ahead of the NHL season." The service will be "available through a newly redesigned ESPN app and via ESPN.com" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 4/2). DEADLINE.com's Dade Hayes noted the app is "likely to play an outsize role in ESPN’s first appearance at the NewFronts," which will take place on May 2 (DEADLINE.com, 4/2).
A DEEPER LOOK: TECH RADAR's Nick Pino wrote ESPN+ is the "most robust offering we’ve seen in a sports streaming package, well, ever" (TECHRADAR.com, 4/2). THE VERGE's Chris Welch noted customers will have the option to "pay the annual price of $49.99" for ESPN+. For fans of the major U.S. professional sports leagues, ESPN+ still "isn’t much of a replacement for cable and the traditional ESPN channels." In the most "damning show of that, live NFL games are absent from the service altogether. Instead, ESPN is "hoping that ESPN+ will attract fans" of other sports. Welch: "There is a ton of that stuff" (THEVERGE.com, 4/2). THE RINGER's Riley McAtee wrote a "deeper look" at the lineup for ESPN+ "reveals it to be underwhelming." It is "lacking the main thing sports fans want to watch: sports." For the "out-of-market MLS junkie, ESPN+ looks like a godsend." That may also be true of college sports fans who "cheer on a team outside of a Power Five conference, along with America’s rugby and cricket fans." But it is "hard to see who else this service appeals to" (THERINGER.com, 4/2). VARIETY's Brian Steinberg wrote ESPN+ "carries a heavy burden." If successful, the services could "help offset an ongoing exodus of viewers from traditional pay-TV systems" (VARIETY.com, 4/2).
