Disney is shaking up the streaming world.
On Tuesday night, the Walt Disney Company’s subsidiary ESPN announced a deal with the NFL, which will acquire the NFL Network, NFL RedZone and NFL Fantasy, among other media assets, The New York Times explained.
In exchange for this, the NFL will receive a 10-percent equity stake in ESPN.
“This is a gigantic leap forward for ESPN as it gets ready to launch its service,” Disney’s Chief Executive Robert A. Iger explained, according to the outlet.
ESPN also announced the release of its new streaming service. It will cost subscribers $30 a month and will launch on Aug. 21.
The network noted that the direct-to-consumer streaming service’s launch coincides “with the start of the college football and NFL seasons, US Open tennis, international soccer, women’s college soccer, volleyball, field hockey, and more – with the start of the WNBA playoffs, PLL playoffs, and NBA and NHL seasons, as well as UFC and WWE events just around the corner.”
Yes, you read that right.
ESPN has also inked a deal with the TKO Group, which is the controlling owner of the WWE. Starting in 2026 the network will house WWE’s premium live events like WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, Money in the Bank and the Royal Rumble.
“WWE has an immense, devoted and passionate fanbase that we’re excited to super-serve on our new ESPN DTC platform. This agreement, which features the most-significant WWE events of the year, bolsters our unprecedented content portfolio and helps drive our streaming future,” explained ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro.
WWE President Nick Khan called the agreement “a pivotal moment” for their fans.
In the meantime, ESPN+ will still be around, but the plan is more limited. It currently costs $11.99 a month.
The new ESPN DTC and the NFL have also reached a new agreement to extend ESPN’s NFL Draft rights, as well as adding NFL programming and content to the streamer and Disney+.
Speaking of Disney+, the Walt Disney Company is set to fully integrate Hulu into Disney+. The company made the announcement on Wednesday morning.
“Today we are announcing a major step forward in strengthening our streaming offering by fully integrating Hulu into Disney+,” CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston said, reports Variety. “This will create an impressive package of entertainment, pairing the highest-caliber brands and franchises, great general entertainment, family programming, news and industry-leading live sports content in a single app.”
The new unified app of the two services will launch in 2026, with Hulu going away.
With all the apps mentioned, for one year you can bundle Disney+, Hulu and the ESPN DTC for $29.99. All of your favorite content will be on Disney+. If you have ESPN on cable, you will have access to the ESPN App via your paid television subscription.
With this news, the company said it will no longer report streaming numbers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.
“We are focused on managing our businesses to deliver growth in a sustained way, and to align our financial reporting with how we operate,” Iger and Johnston wrote in quarterly earnings commentary. “Since we began reporting the number of paid subscribers and ARPU, our DTC strategy and the operating environment have evolved. Given this evolution, we plan to implement changes to our Entertainment and Sports financial disclosures.”