ESPN Could Charge Up to $35 a Month for ESPN Streaming
ESPN is considering charging $20 to $35 per month for its standalone streaming service, potentially impacting cable TV, but facing the risk of losing customers due to the high price.
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Posted 8/25/2023, 5:21:08 PM
cordcuttersnews.com
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Amazon Music Unlimited has increased its pricing for Prime members by $1 per month, with annual plans also seeing a $10 to $16.99 increase. Other music streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music have also recently raised their prices. The price increase is said to be for bringing more content and features to the platform, but it remains to be seen if this will differentiate Amazon Music Unlimited from its competitors.
Disney is in talks with Amazon to partner for an ESPN streaming service, but the proposed monthly cost of $35 makes it the most expensive streaming network available, raising doubts about its profitability.
Amazon is considering partnering with ESPN as it moves towards becoming a streaming service, a move likely influenced by increasing cord-cutting and decreasing profitability for ESPN.
ESPN is facing challenges as consumers shift to streaming and turn to other platforms for sports highlights, leading to a decline in pay-TV households and increasing costs for live sports programming, prompting speculation about the future of the network, including the possibility of a strategic partnership and the eventual availability of the flagship ESPN channel as a direct-to-consumer streaming service.
Spectrum customers can no longer access ESPN due to a contract dispute, but they can still watch ESPN programming through live Internet TV streaming services such as fuboTV, DirecTV Stream, Sling TV, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV, all of which offer free trials.