ESPN Continues Global Expansion on Disney+

ESPN Disney Plus global expansion adds 22 countries with sports streaming

James Okafor | GlobalBeat

ESPN launched its streaming hub inside Disney+ across 22 new European and Asian territories on Monday.

The expansion adds live NBA, NFL, tennis grand slams and local football leagues to the platform for the first time in markets including Portugal, Czech Republic and Thailand.

Disney had limited ESPN programming to North America and Latin America since 2020. Monday’s rollout signals the company’s effort to capture cord-cutters abroad who already subscribe to Disney+ for entertainment content.

Subscribers in the new markets will see an ESPN-branded tile appear inside their Disney+ app. The service costs an extra €4.99 monthly on top of existing Disney+ plans, the company confirmed.

“We are bringing the full weight of ESPN’s rights portfolio to audiences that have never had legal access to this volume of live sport,” Disney’s EMEA sports chief Chris LaPlaca told reporters on a video call.

The 22 territories joining the ESPN tile are: Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Cyprus, Malta, Greece, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia.

LaPlaca said Disney will add more Asian markets “before the NFL season kicks off” in September. He declined to name which countries are next.

The move doubles ESPN’s global streaming footprint. Roughly 95 million Disney+ subscribers outside North America can now add the sports package, according to company data released last quarter.

European sports channels immediately felt pressure. Shares in Eurosport parent Discovery dropped 4.2% in early Amsterdam trading after Disney’s announcement. BT Sport’s owner EE said it would “review pricing” for its remaining UK customers.

ESPN will carry 4,000 live events in the new markets during 2026, company materials show. Rights include every NBA regular-season game, NFL playoffs, Wimbledon, the US Open and Spain’s La Liga. Local football is limited to highlights except in Portugal, where Disney secured limited-match rights to the Primeira Liga.

Consumer reaction was swift. Disney+ app downloads surged to number 2 on Portugal’s iOS chart by Monday evening, analytics firm Sensor Tower reported. #ESPNPlus trended across Twitter in Manila and Prague as users posted screenshots of the new hub.

Some fans balked at the price. “Disney+ already raised rates in January. Now another 5 euros for sport?” Lisbon subscriber Miguel Cardoso wrote on Reddit. Others praised the convenience. “No more pirate streams for NBA. Worth it,” Bangkok user @peatkrapow posted.

Disney executives have spent two years securing rights piecemeal rather than buying pan-regional bundles, insiders said. The strategy keeps costs below the $2 billion annual tab for ESPN+ in the United States, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations who asked not to be named discussing private figures.

Still, analysts see the overseas push as essential. “North American pay-TV losses are accelerating. Disney needs new revenue to offset cord-cutting,” MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson wrote in a note to clients. He estimates ESPN international streaming could generate $600 million in annual subscription sales if 15% of eligible Disney+ users opt in.

Competitors are racing to keep up. Comcast’s Sky Sport will launch a standalone app in Greece and Portugal this summer, a spokesperson confirmed. Paramount+ promotes Champions League football across the same markets for €7.99 monthly. Amazon Prime added NBA games in Brazil last month and is bidding for rights in Southeast Asia, executives familiar with those talks said.

Piracy remains an obstacle. European Union data shows 37% of sports fans access illegal streams at least once a month. “Price is only one factor. Convenience wins,” said Roslyn Layfield, who studies piracy at Oxford University’s Reuters Institute. She noted that Netflix cutBitTorrent usage in half after expanding globally in 2016.

Disney will test that theory. The company plans to simulcast select ESPN+ original shows, including the “ManningCast” alternate feed of Monday Night Football, in the new territories. “Localized commentary and regional studio shows are coming,” LaPlaca said, starting with Portuguese-language NBA coverage this fall.

Background

Disney launched ESPN+ in the United States in April 2018 as a $4.99 add-on inside the ESPN app. The service grew to 26 million subscribers by 2024, aided by exclusive UFC fights and college football. Disney keeps ESPN+ separate from Disney+ domestically, citing higher U.S. sports-rights costs.

Overseas expansion was delayed while Disney prioritized rolling out Disney+ to 100 countries between 2020 and 2023. The entertainment service reached profitability in late 2024, freeing cash to invest in sports programming. CEO Bob Iger told investors the company would “go slow but steady” taking ESPN beyond the Americas, focusing on markets where Disney+ already has scale.

What’s Next

Disney must renegotiate several expiring rights deals before 2027, including Tennis Grand Slams across Southeast Asia and NBA coverage in parts of Eastern Europe. Analysts say renewal prices could jump 40% as Apple, Amazon and Saudi Arabia’s PIF enter bidding. The company aims to reach break-even on international ESPN streaming by fiscal 2028, according to an internal slide shown to investors last month.

Watch for subscriber numbers in Disney’s next quarterly report due August 7. Anything above 3 million ESPN add-ons outside North America would beat Wall Street forecasts and likely lift Disney shares, Nathanson said. The sports push could also test bundle fatigue: Disney already packages Disney+, Hulu and Max together in parts of Europe, raising questions about how many separate fees consumers will tolerate before they cancel.