Bob Iger Reveals That ESPN Cable Subscribers Will Get Access to Flagship
Wall Street’s attention was once again fixated on Bob Iger and Disney this morning as the company delivered its Q2 earnings report.
The big news from today’s presentation was obviously Disney’s announcement that a new theme park and resort is coming to Abu Dhabi. Additionally, the company delivered stellar earnings, with strong results across Disney Experiences and Disney Entertainment.
However, buried in the avalanche of news this morning was an update on ESPN Flagship that has largely been overlooked.
ESPN Linear Subscribers Will Get Access to Flagship
For those who don’t know, ESPN is set to launch its direct-to-consumer product later this year. Internally known as Flagship, the new streaming service will not only give fans access to the ESPN+ library but also the ESPN networks themselves.
Photo: ESPN
However, interestingly, Bob Iger announced today that customers who already subscribe to linear ESPN will get access to the new streaming service.
“If you are a subscriber of linear ESPN, you will automatically get what I know we’ve been referring to as ESPN Flagship,” Iger explained.
Photo: Deadline
“The plan would be to basically be somewhat agnostic from a subscriber perspective, so that we can still do our best to preserve the multi-channel ecosystem, but at the same time, we obviously want to grow our DTC business.”
Disney’s ESPN Strategy
As ESPN enters a new world of streaming, it is clear that Disney views direct-to-consumer and linear television as complementary distribution methods, not competition. The goal is simply to bring ESPN to as many customers as possible.
Photo: Disney
In addition to accessing the ESPN library, the Flashship service will tailor itself to customers’ interests. Additionally, the app will integrate ESPN Bet and fantasy sports into its interface.
“Again, that service will have many more features than the linear service will have,” Iger said.
At this time, Disney has not announced when ESPN Flagship will officially launch. The service is expected to debut before the NFL season kicks off.
Photo: ESPN
Hopefully, we will learn more soon.
