Earlier this year, Disney announced that ESPN would be integrated into the Disney Plus app. This would have provided live sports and other ESPN Plus content, with more to come for subscribers to both services. Now, it appears that the two brands have finally begun to merge.

An ESPN tile has been added to the Disney Plus home screen alongside the Hulu tile added earlier in the year; like the Hulu tile, which is the fastest way to access Hulu shows and movies, this effectively replaces the standalone ESPN Plus app. Thus, subscribers will not have to leave Disney Plus and look for another app to watch live sports broadcasts under the Disney umbrella.

Of course, this means that if they want to benefit from this change, they will need to subscribe to ESPN Plus. According to Disney, you will have access to 30,000 live sporting events, 6,000 hours of original ESPN content, and over 100 hours of studio programming.

Meanwhile, those who subscribe only to Disney Plus will also sweeten the pot. They will have access to “a selection of timely ESPN Plus content,” including live events, original programming, and studio programming. It's an uncharacteristic generosity from Disney, which isn't known for giving things away, but it's probably an excellent way to promote ESPN Plus to new people.

Disney also used this moment to confirm that a proper ESPN streaming service will be available next fall. By “proper,” I mean that this will be a streaming service on par with ESPN's cable channel, and will offer all of the content currently available on cable boxes. These contents will eventually be available on Disney Plus, but without the additional features and experiences that CEO Bob Iger announced in February.

But that is in the future. At the moment, ESPN Plus is all that is offered, and with Disney Plus, anyone who subscribes to Disney's Trio streaming bundle or has another subscription associated with the same Disney account, both services valid available to anyone with a subscription.