Disney Confirms ESPN News During Investor Call

Disney may have canceled Venu, a sports streaming service, before it even launched, but Disney is still moving forward with its ESPN direct-to-consumer streaming service.

ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World

Previously, Disney had announced a sports-related streaming service called Venu, which was ultimately scrapped in early 2025 (after Disney agreed to buy a 70% stake in Fubo — a smaller streaming service that relies heavily on sports content). But during Disney’s 2025 Q1 earnings call, they shared more information about their hopes for the new ESPN service.

In February 2024, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the company would launch an ESPN streaming service in the Fall of 2025. Today, during the 2025 Q1 earnings call, both Iger and Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston answered many questions about the future of ESPN.

ESPN Wide World of Sports

According to the report that was released before the call, Disney’s streaming services are doing pretty well, and the same goes for ESPN, as the Sports Segment of the company had an operating income increase from $350 million to $247 million. Domestic ESPN advertising revenue was also up in the 2025 Q1 as compared to Q1 2024.

ESPN Wide World of Sports

During the 2025 earnings call, it was confirmed that the ESPN flagship app will debut this fall and that their goal is to make ESPN available “however and wherever the consumer wants it.” Disney is focused on tweaking their streaming services to make them more dynamic, and this will be reflected when the ESPN flagship app launches, as there will be a high degree of customization and personalization available in the app.

ESPN Wide World of Sports

Disney also hinted that they know that they had some competition with other streaming services that were rolling out single sports events like Netflix, but it seems that Disney is not too worried as they have the “advantage of a menu of sports that no one else has, as well as being on 365 days a year.”

ESPN Wide World of Sports

It was also said that the ESPN flagship app is being designed with the idea of growing a business rather than perceiving a business as young consumers are leaning more towards streaming and mobile businesses. Iger stated that Disney’s linear networks are not a liability but actually an asset. He went on to say that streaming is the future, and their linear networks are contributing content to their streaming services. Disney seems to be confident as they “feel good about the hand that we have and the way we are managing the linear and streaming business.”

Mickey at ESPN Wide World of Sports

We’ll continue to keep an eye out for more updates on the brand-new ESPN flagship streaming service.

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