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Following up on our earlier report on WWE’s new deal with ESPN, bringing premium live events to ESPN’s new streaming service in the U.S. in 2026: Whether you’ll need to subscribe to the $29.99-per-month platform depends on which TV provider you have.
The new service, launching August 21, will include access to ESPN’s linear channels—ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNews, and ESPN Deportes—as well as additional sports broadcasts from ESPN+, ABC, and other platforms.
But not all pay TV subscribers who already get ESPN will automatically be able to watch WWE’s PLEs on the new platform without paying extra.
ESPN declined to comment for this report, but according to a person familiar with the agreement, only customers of the following providers will be granted access to the PLEs through the ESPN app at no additional cost:
- Charter (Spectrum)
- DirecTV (streaming customers only)
- FuboTV
- Hulu Live TV
- Verizon Fios
Customers who access ESPN through other major systems not named above—and that includes Comcast (Xfinity), YouTube TV, DISH, Sling, Altice, Cogeco, Frontier, and Cable One—will need to subscribe separately to ESPN’s new streaming service to access WWE’s premium events beginning in 2026.
Outside the U.S., WWE PLEs (along with most other WWE content) will continue to be available on Netflix.
It’s always possible ESPN could cut new deals with carriers in the future that changes this but as things stand right now, about half of the pay TV universe will need the extra subscription, the other half will not.
According to our tracking of the pay TV universe, Charter, DirecTV, FuboTV, Hulu Live TV, and Verizon Fios add up to about 30 million households, out of the roughly 66 million pay TV homes.
Update on Thursday afternoon:
Many have pointed to an ESPN Frontrow article from May, which we’ve been informed doesn’t necessarily indicate anything about WWE PLE access. The article names various pay TV systems and says: “In addition to ESPN DTC subscribers, fans that access ESPN through a traditional pay TV provider, e.g. Comcast, DirectTV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, will also have access to the new features through the enhanced ESPN App.”
We’ve been informed that as ESPN’s parent company Disney makes renewed agreements with pay TV carriers, ESPN DTC authentication, including automatic access to WWE PLEs may become a part of those new agreements.
Verizon FIOS and DirecTV confirmed to Wrestlenomics on Thursday that they expect their customers to have access to WWE PLEs at no added cost.
Also on Thursday, a representative for Fubo seemed less than certain about WWE PLE access given how new the WWE-ESPN deal is. The representative wrote to us by email: “Subscribers to Fubo’s English-language plans will be able to enjoy full access to content featured on the ESPN DTC app at no extra charge. We do not have an update at this time on Fubo’s potential coverage of ESPN’s just-announced WWE partnership.”
Other pay TV systems had not yet responded to our requests for clarification.
CNBC’s Alex Sherman also wrote about this issue in his newsletter on Thursday with information consistent with what we’ve learned.
So, here’s what I can tell you: Disney has been able to get authentication rights from Charter, DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, Verizon Fios and some smaller pay TV operators.
That means ESPN’s direct-to-consumer product will not initially be available for Comcast Xfinity customers, YouTube TV subscribers, Dish satellite TV customers, Sling TV users or Cox cable subscribers.
I’m told discussions with all of these pay TV providers are ongoing, and Disney hopes to have most of them done by the end of the year. It’s still unclear to me at this point if Disney can accelerate some of these discussions if their pay TV carriage renewals aren’t until 2026.
Brandon Thurston has written about wrestling business since 2015. He operates and owns Wrestlenomics.