ESPN Plus is about to completely change — here's everything you need to know

If you subscribe to ESPN Plus, you're about to find that not much is going to change... for you. However ESPN's streaming offerings are changing massively at the end of August which may lead to some confusion.

The headline change is that ESPN is launching a new streaming service. What's it called? No idea, but press materials suggest that it could, confusingly, be called simply 'ESPN'.

This new service is set to launch on Thursday, August 21, and a subscription will cost $29.99 per month or $299.99 per year. That's almost triple the price of the existing subscription but there's a cheaper tier which costs $11.99 per month and offers what ESPN Plus currently does... so in other words, this basic plan is a continuation of ESPN Plus, and existing subscribers will be rolled over to it with basically no change. Hence my first sentence.

But what about the expensive tier, which ESPN is called the Unlimited Plan? Well, that's where the sports broadcaster's new online offerings begin to shine.

The Unlimited Plan's core selling point is that it lets you stream sports that are airing on ESPN's cable channels, a list quite a lot more expansive than what ESPN Plus gets. This includes things from ESPN, ESPNU, ESPNNews and various other channels. The broadcaster predicts that this offering includes 47,000 live events each year (ESPN Plus' stat is at 32,000).

This is the first time that you've been able to stream ESPN's cable channels over the air from one service (various live TV streaming services have certain ESPN channels, but not the ESPN Plus catalog too).

While the expanded live sports offering is obviously a big draw of this new-and-improved ESPN platform, it'll also include all of the broadcaster's studio shows and its large library. Plus, many WWE Premium Live Events will be available on the platform including WrestleMania in 2026.

To coincide with the change, the ESPN Plus app will see some big upgrades. and these will come to existing subscribers too. Multiview will see some improvements (what are they? ESPN hasn't said), odds information for betting and the ability to play fantasy sports.

While these are the only two tiers, you can pay a little bit more because both will be available via bundles. The standard ESPN Plus tier will continue to be on the Disney Bundle and the higher tier will also come in two bundles: one with ad-supported Disney Plus and Hulu for $35.99 per month, and another that drops the ads on those two streamers for $44.99. An introductory offer will reduce the former tier to $29.99 per month for your first year.

So this is a big change for sports streaming fans, and the first in a while after several combo streamers were announced but then fell apart (looking at you, Venu Sports). But if you're already on ESPN Plus and like it just fine, then nothing's changing for you.