New ESPN app launches on Thursday for $30 a month
App uses all ESPN programming without a pay TV subscription
Betting, fantasy sports will be intergrated
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By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES, Aug 20 - Walt Disney's ESPN will provide its complete variety of sports programming outside of pay TV for the very first time beginning on Thursday, when the network debuts an app developed to be a center for live games and personalized news, statistics and highlights.
The ESPN app is Disney's effort to catch a few of the tens of countless customers that the pioneering sports channel has actually lost since 2010 during the streaming TV revolution.
ESPN executives said they have actually customized the new offering, which is far broader than the restricted ESPN+ app released in 2018, to deal with the tastes of today's sports fans.
"We understand that fans do not just wish to enjoy," ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro told reporters. "They desire an experience. They desire to engage."
The app will use more than 47,000 live occasions each year from the NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL, college football, tennis, golf and other sports. It will cost $30 each month. An initial offer will consist of ad-supported versions of the Disney+ and Hulu streaming services totally free.
Fans can enter their preferred teams and sports for modification such as a customized variation of the "SportsCenter" news and wrap-up show. Expert system will create narrative based upon the voices of ESPN anchors.
A brand-new feature called "Verts," or scroll-ready, vertical video highlights, also can be tailored. Stats for a user's fantasy players will be displayed next to live video games. And an ESPN Bet tab will show live, settled and approaching bets for users who have actually connected their betting accounts.
Disney President Bob Iger has actually called the app "a sports fan's dream."
Industry analysts see it as a possibility for the company to pick up fans who do not subscribe to cable, and they do not expect it will pull masses from pay TV. ESPN was available in 100 million homes through pay TV in 2010. In July of this year, that number stood at about 61 million.
"It's another step in Disney's pivot to (streaming) and the importance to streaming to the overall company," said MoffettNathanson expert Robert Fishman.
ESPN will promote the app extensively. Actor John Cena will star in commercials that stress "All of ESPN. All in One Place."
Pay tv will "stay a big part" of ESPN's service, Pitaro said. For the quarter that ended in June, ESPN represented $1 billion of Disney's $4.6 billion in operating earnings, or nearly 22%. The majority of ESPN's revenue came from fees paid by cable and satellite suppliers and from marketing.
Subscribers to pay TV will have access to the brand-new ESPN app. Pitaro said the company intended to drive all of its customers to the app "because that's by far the very best, the most holistic experience."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis)