Disney is adding ESPN+ to Hulu in the main Disney+ streaming tent

Disney’s “trio” package of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ is now available under one roof on Disney+.

As announced last month, the addition of ESPN+ went into effect this morning, allowing subscribers to choose live sports, library and studio offerings through a branded ESPN tile on the home screen. The integration follows Hulu’s earlier this year.

In a Zoom briefing with reporters, executives said the first sports programming to debut on the Disney+ homepage will include NBA and WNBA games, Australian Open tennis and studio shows Forgive the interruption. The effort to cross-pollinate sports and entertainment programming offers a preview of a more ambitious endeavor planned for fall 2025: the planned launch of ESPN’s “flagship” streaming service. (There are also plans to get properties on Disney+.)

The move comes just over five years after the launch of Disney+. A clear consensus has now emerged on two things: the Disney+ program is powerful but too narrow; and the streaming landscape is littered with complexity and too many platforms.

Alisa Bowen, president of Disney+, called the move “the next step in both the evolution of Disney+ and ESPN’s streaming future.”

Disney reported 122.7 million “core” Disney+ subscribers (this figure excludes Disney+ Hotstar) and 25.6 million ESPN+ subscribers at the end of its fiscal year on September 28. It is not reported how many subscribers opt for packages.

Executives were asked in the briefing why customers would be incentivized to continue subscribing to ESPN+ as a standalone service.

John Lasker, SVP of ESPN+, said the 5,000 live events planned to be offered through Disney+ to hook up subscribers in the first 90 days represent “a small fraction” of the 30,000 events available on ESPN+ each year . “Part of the design is to drive engagement and interest in sports among casual sports fans who might not otherwise come to ESPN as part of their normal media habits. So it’s not an alternative to ESPN or ESPN+, but rather an opportunity to expand reach.”

ESPN+ launched in 2018 and was initially positioned as a complement to ESPN’s core pay-TV offering. Over the years, more and more live sports have been added, but it’s still not enough to give fans a complete experience. As cord cuts continued to shrink the number of ESPN subscribers, officials called for the entire ESPN offering to be integrated into direct-to-consumer streaming.

In sports, Disney’s streaming efforts have been hit by a legal challenge to its joint venture with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, Venu Sports. That service, whose planned launch earlier this year was scuttled by a federal judge’s injunction in an antitrust lawsuit filed by Fubo, brings together sports-focused programming across 15 linear networks. Disney and its partners have appealed the injunction and will present oral arguments in their appeal next month.