Disney Reportedly Eyeing Apple as a ‘Strategic Partner’ for ESPN

Disney has been on the prowl for a potential strategic partner for its ESPN sports network, and a recent report suggests that Apple could be one of the companies on the entertainment giant’s radar.

According to the New York Post, Disney wants to partner with a tech company. While several are on the list, ranging from Silicon Valley giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to carriers like Verizon and T-Mobile, there are reasons to believe Apple could be a frontrunner.

Earlier this month, Disney CEO Bob Iger suggested in an interview with CNBC the network is looking for a cooperative minority investment. It reportedly had early talks with sports leagues like the NBA, NFL, and MLB before deciding that it prefers to go with a tech platform to help with distribution or content.

The sports leagues likely ended up being a poor fit as owning a chunk of ESPN could complicate their deals with other networks and streaming services. It could also potentially lead to accusations of bias in ESPN’s sports journalism arm.

A technology partner, on the other hand, could help ESPN make a more solid move into the streaming business as it prepares to take ESPN direct-to-consumer in 2025. Presently, ESPN is solely available through cable and satellite television packages. While Disney plans to expand the sports network to cord-cutters, it doesn’t want to do so at the expense of cable television.

Hence, a deal with a streaming partner such as Apple would undoubtedly carry the condition that ESPN remain available on cable, creating a lack of exclusivity that could make it less appealing.

The Post is short on details as to exactly how Apple or any other tech company would fit into Disney’s plans. However, Apple is seen as a favored choice because of the close relationship the two companies already enjoy. Disney CEO Bob Iger had a close friendship with Steve Jobs, who also became the second-largest Disney shareholder in the history of the media empire after Disney acquired Pixar. Jobs also sat on the Disney Board of Directors until his untimely death in 2011, while Iger came to Apple’s Board of Directors in 2011 at Jobs’ request. The Disney CEO remained on Apple’s board until resigning in 2019 on the same day Apple TV+ was formally announced.

Nevertheless, it was an amicable parting of ways, and the two companies still have close ties, as evidenced by Iger’s involvement in the Apple Vision Pro launch, when he took the stage to highlight Disney’s plans for the new mixed-reality headset, including a comment that “fans would be able to watch an NBA game as if they were sitting courtside.”

While Apple has reportedly been in talks directly with the NBA on this matter, it’s not hard to imagine a Disney/ESPN and Apple partnership that centers on the Vision Pro. However, presumably, Disney has bigger ambitions than the limited audience that would come to the network through a $3,500 headset.

One possibility the report suggests is an arrangement that could have the ESPN app pre-loaded onto iPhones. However, this is likely something that Apple would balk at as the company has never sold the iPhone with third-party apps. The closest it ever came was the YouTube app that shipped on the original iPhone; however, this was developed entirely by Apple and done out of necessity as YouTube used Adobe Flash to stream videos in those days — a technology that Apple wisely omitted from the iPhone’s Safari browser.

In the unlikely event that such a partnership came to fruition, it’s much more likely that Apple would find a way to bring ESPN directly into its own TV app, likely as an Apple TV Channel like HBO Max once was or a special adjunct streaming service like MLS Season Pass.

For Apple, such a move could provide a boost to its own sports streaming ambitions. So far, Apple has been negotiating with leagues directly and has only gotten as far as a relatively small Friday Night Baseball deal with the MLB and a 10-year exclusive Major League Soccer deal. Apple has courted the NFL without any success, and rumors persist that it’s working on college football deals, but nothing has yet come of that.

Meanwhile, ESPN already has an overwhelming number of rights deals, plus the resources to take care of both live on-the-field and in-studio production. However, broadcast and streaming rights are complicated; ESPN has the former locked up but not necessarily the latter, which in many cases have already been sold to other streaming companies like Amazon and Google. Reworking these arrangements could take decades, and Apple may prefer to continue negotiating its own streaming deals independently.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]