When Will Dish Get Free Access to the ESPN Unlimited App?

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Follow me on X.

TV Answer Man, can Dish Network customers get the ESPN Unlimited App for free? If not, will you please find out when this will happen? – Jeff, town withheld.

Jeff, the new ESPN Unlimited app includes live feeds of all ESPN channels as well as on-demand programming and exclusive content on the ESPN+ section such as premium WWE events and more than 1,000 out-of-market NHL games.

DIRECTV streaming customers (and some satellite subscribers), Hulu Live, Verizon and Fubo customers can now access the entire app’s content for free with their pay TV user name and password.

Subscribers to other pay TV services, such as Comcast, Dish, Cox Cable, and YouTube TV, can now watch the live ESPN channels on the ESPN app for free with their user name and password. But they can’t watch the ESPN+ programming because they have not negotiated specific deals with the sports network for those rights.

It’s possible that some of those services will get that authorization before year’s end. YouTube TV, for example, needs to negotiate a new carriage agreement with Disney (ESPN’s owner) in the coming weeks so the streamer could soon make a deal for ESPN+.

Dish, however, is in a different category, which it often is when it comes to carriage relationships. Disney is suing the company’s sister service, Sling TV, for what it calls an unauthorized use of ESPN in the streamer’s new short-term passes such as the $4.99 for a day’s viewing plan. It’s unknown when that legal scrap will be resolved but it’s highly unlikely that Disney will grant use of ESPN+ to Dish or Sling subscribers until it is.

The TV Answer Man will continue to monitor this situation and report back here if anything significant changes.

Until then, happy viewing and stay safe!

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