Is ESPN Coming Soon To Disney+ In Australia?

January 14, 2025 Roger Palmer

Sports content on Disney+ isn’t anything new, as many ESPN documentaries have been available on Disney+, but in the past year, we’ve seen the next evolution of Disney+ slowly take place with the introduction of sports programming via an ESPN hub.

It started in Latin America last June, when Star+ was merged into Disney+ across the region, introducing a new ESPN hub that is available to all subscribers.

Last month, ESPN On Disney+ launched in the United States. It offers a select amount of sports content to all Disney+ subscribers and everything from ESPN+ to bundled subscribers.

This has led to much speculation about Disney’s plans for ESPN in the rest of the world. A few years ago, Disney closed down its ESPN Player app across Europe, Africa and The Middle East, but has yet to introduce live sports across the region, due to short term licensing deals with local networks.

While in Australia, back in 2023, Disney signed a multiyear deal with Foxtel to keep ESPN content on their platforms, after many decades working together.

However, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, that deal is set to expire in July 2025, and there is speculation that ESPN could move to Disney+. Especially as Foxtel was also recently sold to the sports streaming service, DAZN.

This is because of a deal between Foxtel and Disney-owned ESPN, which allows Foxtel to broadcast games of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the National Football League (NFL), the National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB) as well as college sports and UFC.

ESPN’s current two-year deal with Foxtel runs until July. It is unclear what exactly Disney’s plan to put major US sports on Disney+ would mean for this deal, which could still be renewed, though it is likely those sports would no longer be available for Kayo customers.

According to sources with knowledge of Disney’s plans, Disney is planning a similar move in Australia. It will introduce live content for the first time in markets with a strong interest in sports to grow subscribers and get better value from its own assets.

Most of the major streaming services are now incorporating sports into their programme offering, as they offer more choices to subscribers. Disney recently signed a new long-term global deal for the NBA, and Disney is also looking to renew its licensing deal with the UFC, so incorporating that into Disney+ content globally would also allow the sport to reach a larger audience and provide Disney with more value.

Officially, Disney hasn’t announced its plans for bringing ESPN into Disney+ in Australia or other regions, but hopefully, later this year, we will start to see ESPN become the seventh hub globally.

Roger’s Take: With the introduction of ESPN to Disney+ in the United States and across Latin America, plus Disney making many new global deals for sports like the NBA and NHL, it only seems logical that this is the next stage in making Disney+ the centralised hub for its content, especially as all the contracts are aligning.