
This New Feature Makes It Easier to Watch Your Favorite Sports
By Movieguide® Contributor
ESPN is making it easier for sports fans to find the games they want to watch.
“The Disney-owned sports division has launched a new feature called ‘Where to Watch’ on its main app and website. The service guides users to any sports event on ESPN platforms and elsewhere, including broadcast, cable and regional sports networks and streaming services,” Deadline reported.
“Simplifying discovery of sporting events and where a fan can watch has become increasingly important as sports viewing has become fragmented across networks and platforms,” explained Brian Marshall, Vice President, Sports Product & Technology, Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology.
“ESPN has always been the first stop for sports fans, and as we continue our evolution as the preeminent digital sports platform, we are proud to meet the needs of fans with new features to improve the discoverability of live sports and simplify their consumption journeys,” he added.
Inside the “Where to Watch” feature, users can “view all the sports events for the day, with the network or service on which to find them. It also offers one-click access to ESPN network streams for pay TV authenticated users and ESPN+ subscribers and links to certain partner networks,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
David Pierce with The Verge said that ESPN “has data from more than 250 streaming services. On Wednesday morning, it offered me a baseball game on MLB.TV, a college soccer game on ACC Extra, some MLS on Apple TV Plus, and five different ways to stream a WNBA game. ESPN says that you’ll be able to click some listings to go directly to a game, though that’ll require a separate partnership with those services. You can also set the feature to only show games on services you subscribe to.”
Movieguide® previously reported on ESPN:
By the end of 2024, Disney+ will begin to feature select ESPN “live games” and studio programs to watch on the platform.
“We see this as a first step to bringing ESPN to Disney+ viewers as we ready the launch of our enhanced stand-alone ESPN streaming service in the fall of 2025,” Disney’s CEO Bob Iger said in a press release.
“It’s a start in terms of essentially conditioning the audience or subscribers to Disney+ and Hulu to the fact that sports is going to be there and it also will help us in terms of overall engagement with our bundle,” he continued.
Iger and ESPN have long-term contracts with college football championships, NCAA championships and the National Football League.
However, there is one powerhouse Iger is missing but believes his company can secure.