Disney is preparing to launch a standalone ESPN streaming service, a report by The Wall Street Journal revealed.
The report suggests that ESPN plans to sell its channel to cable cord-cutters as a subscription streaming service in the coming years.
Disney and ESPN are reportedly setting up their plan for a standalone streaming service under an internal project codenamed “Flagship”. Nevertheless, Disney will continue to offer EPSN as a TV channel.
Earlier this month, Disney CEO Robert Iger said in an earnings call that migrating ESPN to direct-to-consumer service is a huge decision which the company plans to implement.
“We haven’t really changed our position regarding basically migrating ESPN’s flagship service as a direct-to-consumer or streaming platform. We think there’s an inevitability to that, but it’s a huge decision for us to make. And we know that we’ve got to get it right, both in terms of pricing and timing,” Iger said.
Meanwhile, Disney announced a new app for US customers that combines Disney+ and Hulu content and announced increasing the price of Disney Plus ad-free tier later in the year.