Disney Plus just tipped a huge upgrade for millions — here's what we know

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Disney has revealed that Disney Plus subscribers should expect to get more for their money — and relatively soon.

In the lead-up to the company's earnings call, Disney executives revealed that the company is planning to add more ESPN content to its primary streaming service.

During an interview with CNBC, Disney finance chief Hugh Johnson said of Disney Plus said "It’s going to be the portal into all things Disney." (h/t The Wall Street Journal [paywall). The plan is to add new Disney Plus-exclusive live sports shows as well as a daily episode of ESPN's flagship studio sports show SportsCenter sometime during the upcoming year.

However, just because Disney Plus is getting new sports content doesn't mean that's Disney's only plan for giving consumers more access to live sports. Disney is also planning to launch a direct-to-consumer ESPN streaming service — yes, different from ESPN Plus — sometime in early fall.

This move has long been expected though it's unclear exactly how it will fit in Disney's streaming ecosystem. One thing we do know is this new ESPN streaming service will include sports betting and fantasy sports integrations, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger.

2025 is the year of the new streaming service

Disney is just one of several companies working on new sports-focused streaming services this year. In fact, this isn't even the first move we've seen from Disney in the sports streaming space in 2025.

That honor goes to when the media giant merged Hulu + Live TV and Fubo to end a lawsuit Fubo had filed against Venu Sports. Not long after that, Disney—along with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery—killed Venu before it even rolled out to customers.

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Venu being cut from the team has seemingly opened up room for new players. DirecTV has since launched MySports, which is a sports and news-only DirecTV Stream streaming package with 40 channels and more on the way.

Fox has also announced a new sports and news streaming service that is expected to come by the end of 2025. It seems they'll now be joined by this new ESPN standalone service as well as a revamped Disney Plus with a stronger sports offering.

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Malcolm McMillan is a senior writer for Tom's Guide, covering all the latest in streaming TV shows and movies. That means news, analysis, recommendations, reviews and more for just about anything you can watch, including sports! If it can be seen on a screen, he can write about it. Previously, Malcolm had been a staff writer for Tom's Guide for over a year, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), A/V tech and VR headsets.

Before writing for Tom's Guide, Malcolm worked as a fantasy football analyst writing for several sites and also had a brief stint working for Microsoft selling laptops, Xbox products and even the ill-fated Windows phone. He is passionate about video games and sports, though both cause him to yell at the TV frequently. He proudly sports many tattoos, including an Arsenal tattoo, in honor of the team that causes him to yell at the TV the most.

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