While we’re still a long way away from being able to subscribe to ESPN all on its own, it appears that work is very much continuing behind the scenes. Disney CEO Bob Iger, at the company’s annual shareholders meeting, gave a brief mention to the previously-announced standalone sports offering.
While no major details were dropped, Iger initially said that “the full suite of ESPN channels” would be available as their own streaming subscription “in the fall of 2025.” While the year had previously been announced, the season had not. But it makes a lot of sense, given the importance of college football and the NFL to ESPN.
And it’s starting to sound like this won’t just the various ESPN-branded channels themselves that will be made available. Iger said to expect “interactive” components, too.
“This will give consumers,” Iger said in a pre-recorded video, “the ability to stream their favorite live games and studio programing, and take advantage of an immersive, customizable sports experience that includes betting, fantasy sports, e-commerce and more.”
It will also be interesting to see what happens to the price of the Disney Bundle if the full ESPN suite is included by default or if you’ll be able to keep things limited to ESPN+, which doesn’t currently stream what you can find on ESPN on linear TV.
“Overall,” Iger said, “our current and future direct-to-consumer offerings are a clear differentiator for the company in a very competitive landscape.”
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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