On the heels of last week’s launch of ESPN+, a $5 monthly streaming service from the famed sports network, yet another player is entering the SVOD arena.
Sports Illustrated has launched its SI TV on Roku, iOS, Android, and the web, Deadline reports. The service first launched on Amazon Channels last year and then became available via fuboTV’s skinny bundle earlier this month, but this is the first time that it will be available directly to consumers — also priced at $5 per month. In addition to ESPN+ and SI TV, Turner’s Bleacher Report last month launched Bleacher Report Live, though no pricing details for that service have been released thus far.
“As a sports fan, I am excited that there is such a healthy and a lot of different ways to engage with sports content,” SI TV’s head of programming, Josh Oshinsky, told Deadline. He added that the company may offer an ad-supported version of the service in the future.
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Rather than focusing on live sports streams like competitors, SI TV will focus on studio shows, long-form documentaries (including explorations of its famous ‘Swimsuit’ issues), and library films — including Rocky and the 1992 figure skating drama The Cutting Edge. The service will also provide profiles of prominent sports figures and on and off-field analysis, including interviews with notable college players ahead of next week’s NFL Draft. Weekly shows include basketball-focused The Crossover, soccer-centric Planet Futbol, and The Line, which is about all things sports betting.
Meredith, which purchased several Time Inc. titles — including Sports Illustrated — last year, said last month that it intended to sell Sports Illustrated, Time, Fortune, and Money. Time’s People and Entertainment Weekly brands launched an ad-supported OTT channel last year, which was subsequently renamed from the People Entertainment Network (PEN) to People TV.
