New 'ESPN+' Streaming Service Launching April 12 for $4.99/Month

[Plutonius]

I wish that all of ESPN was a premium part of my cable provider so I would not have to get it (i.e. pay for it with higher cable bills).

 

[Beerstalker]

No. You would still need to authenticate with a cable/satellite provider to get most of ESPN's content. ESPN is basically just moving ESPN3 content to this new paid tier.

That is what it looks like to me too. Getting rid of ESPN3 and ESPN 360 which tended to be free with a cable subscription and moving that content to this new ESPN+ service they are going to charge for.

For those of you thinking this was going to give you all ESPN content for $5/month you are sadly mistaken. If/when they offer that it is much more likely to be in the $10-20 a month range. Last I knew they were closing in on charging $10 a month for the cable/satellite companies to carry the channels, there is no way they will undercut that without causing a huge backlash from those companies if they even could. My guess is many or all of those contracts strictly forbid ESPN from doing that.