Walt Disney Co. is expected to announce the NFL is taking an equity stake in its sports media property ESPN, according to people familiar with the plan.
Disney may reveal the deal during its earnings call Wednesday. Representatives at the NFL and ESPN declined comment Friday.
In return for the equity stake, ESPN is expected at minimum to take over the NFL’s cable properties including the NFL Network and Red Zone, the popular channel that continuously updates fans on the slate of Sunday contests. The NFL Network also has the rights to several regular season games late in the season.
NFL also owns the league’s production unit, NFL Films, and NFL+, the streaming service that enables subscribers to watch games and other related content on mobile devices.
ESPN has the broadcast rights to “Monday Night Football” and two Super Bowl games in the current NFL contract that runs through 2033 but is expected to be reopened in 2029. The impending deal with Disney means the NFL’s other partners — Fox, NBC, CBS, YouTube and Amazon — will be bidding against an entity that the league has a financial interest in next time the media rights come up.
Discussions between the NFL and Disney have been ongoing for more than 18 months as concerns heightened about the viability of ESPN when consumers continue to bypass or cancel pay TV subscriptions.
ESPN has long been the most expensive part of the pay TV bundle, currently getting close to $9 per subscriber. It is now in around 73 million homes, down from 98.5 million in 2013.
ESPN is adapting to the streaming landscape, launching its first stand-alone direct-to-consumer product that will give consumers access to all of its channels without a pay TV subscription. The service will cost $29.99 a month.
TV ratings for ESPN have improved and ad sales have remained strong as advertisers value audiences who watch live programming.
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