Jaydon Blue #23 of the Dallas Cowboys rushes the football against the Arizona Cardinals during the preseason NFL game at State Farm Stadium on August 22, 2026 in Glendale, Arizona. Christian Petersen/Getty Images The ESPN app, which turned a year old last week, is set to raise its rates.
As of Sept. 17, 2026, an ESPN Select subscription will increase $1 per month from $12.99 to $13.99, or from $129.99 annually to $139.99; an ESPN Unlimited subscription will increase $2 per month from $29.99 to $31.99, or from $299.99 per year to $319.99.
You probably know ESPN Select better by its prior name, ESPN+.
This is the first pricing increase since the new ESPN app, known simply as “ESPN,” launched in August 2025. ESPN+ launched way back in April 2018. In the streaming business, that is a legit “way back.”
ESPN+ does not feature a live stream of the linear ESPN network — subscribers get ancillary and library programming, not key programming like ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The ESPN (Unlimited) app has all of the cable channels, including the SEC and ACC networks, and everything from ESPN+.
ESPN itself, the cable channel, launched in 1979. Just last week its founder, Bill Rasmussen, died following a battle with Parkinson’s Disease. The Hollywood Reporter‘s appreciation can be read here.
For those who have yet to cut the cord, the ESPN cable network is the most expensive basic-cable channel in your package, though it doesn’t cost anything near what the Unlimited app does. As it matter of fact, it doesn’t even run cable subscribers what ESPN Select costs. (Generally speaking, the ESPN channel costs between $9-$10 per month today.)
There was a time before the (new) ESPN app where ESPN-owner Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery were going to team up to launch an all-sports streamer called Venu. It never got off the ground.
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