ESPN Streaming Launch is Death Knell for Broad-based Streaming Applications

The Streaming Tipping Point Has Finally Arrived

This morning, ESPN launched a preview campaign for its new all-in-one streaming app, set to arrive this fall. I’d heard it was coming a few weeks ago, but today’s email from the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network means it is indeed coming, and it will likely mark the end of my relationship with YouTubeTV. I’ve not been alone in saying that the streaming wars are untenable over the long term, and something has to give. I gave up cable TV a few years ago for what was essentially the same thing, but via the Internet vs coaxial cable and presumably for less money. We tried a few first, like Sling and Fubo, but settled on YouTubeTV.

Let’s start with an explanation of what ESPN will be offering come this fall. For $29.99 per month (or $299 per year with an annual plan), users get a direct-to-consumer app that includes “all seven of ESPN's networks in addition to ESPN on ABC and several other streaming options. At launch, it will offer 47,000 live events a year, plus on-demand replays, studio shows, and original programming.”

Right now, I get all of these services through a combination of YouTubeTV and my ESPN+ subscription. Ask me how much I’m paying for these two services alone. I have no fucking idea — and that’s the point. I believe I’m paying well over $100 a month for YouTubeTV and a few upgrades such as HBO Max and 4K programming. ESPN+ used to be $5.99 a month, but I think it went up to $11.99 a month recently. I suspect I pay about $10 per month for HBO Max, $25 per month for Netflix, $139 per year for Amazon Prime which includes Prime TV, an unkown amount for some bundle that includes Hulu and Disney+ (which I never watch), $7.99 for Peacock Premium so I can watch Arsenal matches, YouTube Premium so I can watch YouTube without ads, and god only knows what else. I’ve lost track!

Here’s what I do know — were it not for live sports, I’d probably never watch anything on YouTubeTV. I know this because damn near every night I flip on the TV and click through more than 100 channels and aside from live sports I never stop on anything. Springsteen wrote “57 Channels (and nothin’ on)” in 1992. I now have hundreds of channels with nothin’ on. Unless, of course, you count Mama June: From Not to Hot, which is seemingly on 24 hours a day.

Inevitably, this frustration leads to YouTube, or Netflix, or some other streaming app on my TV. Damn near every night I throw up my hands and wonder why the heck I pay for YouTubeTV. My Gen Z kid says it’s because I have no frame of reference for television outside of the cable I grew up with. I instinctively “surf” television while younger generations decide what they want and watch it. I can’t tell you how many times I have been surfing up and down the YouTubeTV app only to stop in the middle of a random episode of Key & Peele at which time my kid says something like “why don’t you watch that on Hulu and there will be no commercials and you can watch any episode you like.” And they are right. I’m just programmed to surf and stop on what interests me. And I’m too lazy at that point to push two buttons on my remote and switch over to the app.

No more. Starting this fall, I will pay the annual fee for the new ESPN app and dump YouTubeTV. What will I miss? Nothing. What will I save? A lot of money.

But Len, what about local television stations? To that I say what the heck is on ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX that I can’t get elsewhere on an app? Live sports? Yes, not all live sports are on an ESPN channel, but you can watch most if not all of the other “network” sports on apps, including Hulu, ABC on ESPN (which will be included in the ESPN app), Peacock, and Paramount+. What about The Bachelor? It’s on Hulu and I can watch it when I want. What about big events like the Oscars? Who cares. I don’t watch that crap anymore.

Besides, how long until you can only watch “network” programming on their apps? I suspect not long at all, as this is the direction in which we’re headed. Even the term “network” is a misnomer in 2025. Plus, you can get local programming, including “network” television, with a digital antenna for free. So there’s that.

How much do you pay per month for television (assuming you are not one of those psychopaths who say they don’t watch television)? Do you even know, or are you like me in that you’ve signed up for so many services over the years that you’ve lost track?

Heck, I may even be paying more than once each month for the same damn service. Do I get HBO Max from YouTubeTV or the Disney/Hulu bundle? And why do I even have the Disney+ bundle when I don’t watch Disney? Dang, I forgot I also pay like $10 a month for Apple+ TV, which frankly has the best original content these days.

It’s untenable, I tell you! I need to do an audit of all this stuff. That sounds like fun.