The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire a majority shareholding in BAMTech, the video technology business of MLB Advanced Media, the interactive media arm of Major League Baseball.
Disney will pay $1.58bn (€1.35bn) to acquire an additional 42 per cent of BAMTech from MLBAM after having taken up the option to accelerate its acquisition of a controlling stake.
A year ago, it was revealed that ESPN would launch a new direct-to-consumer service after Walt Disney confirmed the initial investment in BAMTech.
The media company also confirmed that its ESPN-branded video-streaming service will launch in early 2018, with a new Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service starting in 2019.
The ESPN-branded OTT service will offer coverage of about 10,000 live events per year, including contests from Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, grand slam tennis and college sports. Individual sport packages will also be available for purchase, including MLB.TV, NHL.TV and MLS Live.
The new service will be available through the ESPN app.
“The media landscape is increasingly defined by direct relationships between content creators and consumers, and our control of BAMTech’s full array of innovative technology will give us the power to forge those connections, along with the flexibility to quickly adapt to shifts in the market,” said Bob Iger, Walt Disney’s chairman and chief executive.
“This acquisition and the launch of our direct-to-consumer services mark an entirely new growth strategy for the Company, one that takes advantage of the incredible opportunity that changing technology provides us to leverage the strength of our great brands.”
The BAMTech transaction is subject to regulatory approval. When the deal is approved, Iger will serve as the chairman of the BAMTech board, with MLBAM and the NHL continuing as minority stakeholders in the venture, with seats on the board.