Rumors of $35 for ESPN

I read with interest an article last week about the price of the upcoming ESPN streaming service.

Let's clarify a few things first.

ESPN streaming isn't actually a thing. Disney, which owns ESPN, is planning to launch a streaming service, but has made no official announcements about it. Little is known other than Disney wants to do it.

ESPN+ is NOT simply ESPN streaming. It is a supplement to ESPN. The standard ESPN live stream is not available on ESPN+. Some content is streamed on both ESPN and ESPN+, but most is not.

Nobody really knows anything (see the first thing) and everything about when it may launch and any pricing is conjecture. Some are educated guesses, others are "pull it out of thin air" guesses.

So, what are the rumors? Well, according to The Information, ESPN would cost almost as much as Sling TV:

ESPN is considering charging between $20 and $35 a month for its new streaming service, The Information reported Thursday. Such a price range could make it the most expensive streaming service in the U.S.

The new service would show the same marquee programming as ESPN’s cable channel, unlike the existing ESPN+ streaming service ...

Sling TV Orange carries ESPN, and is $40/month, only $5 more than the rumored price. Sling TV also has other programming that might be of interest.

A downside to Sling TV is the limit of a single stream. Accounts cannot have multiple streams at the same time, making this not as attractive as most other services.

Would ESPN have multiple streams? That isn't known. If it does, this may be a better option because it saves $5 and allows multiple games to be played by a family.

My Streaming Life involves ESPN via Sling TV every football season. I don't know if I'd switch to a standalone ESPN service, but I might.