Front Office Football Central - Sports Media Thread

Figured we should have a thread talking about Sports Media in general.. came across this story about the ESPN stand-alone service to be debuted in 2025 (not to be confused with the Fox-WBD-ESPN service that's also coming)

I don't want to be the negative nelly on this one, but in my opinion, this could have the same disaster potential that ESPN: The Phone had.

ESPN Streaming Service to Launch By Fall 2025

Quote:

A standalone ESPN streaming service will launch by fall 2025, as early as August, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger said on Wednesday.

The Disney boss revealed the expected launch date in an interview with CNBC ahead of the entertainment giant’s earnings call, and called the direct-to-consumer service a “one-stop shop” for sports lovers during the company’s Wednesday earnings call.

In addition to including the “full suite of ESPN channels,” Iger said on CNBC, “it will provide many more features,” including shopping, betting and other personalized and customizable features.

“Not only will consumers be able to stream their favorite live games and studio programming, they’ll also have access to engaging digital integrations like ESPN bet and fantasy sports, e-commerce features and a deeper array of sports stats, all of which we know will be incredibly compelling to younger sports fans in particular,” Iger said on the earnings call. “It will also have very robust personalization features.”

We don't want shopping. We don't want betting. We want sports. We want people talking smartly about sports. We don't want "E-commerce integration and personalization". They threw away over $150 million in the Phone debacle, and they could lose a hell of a lot more.