• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, Today

While consumers are increasingly moving to streaming bundles to save money,  this does not benefit the higher-priced packages that include sports -- like ESPN.

ESPN recently announced it is launching its highly regarded streaming platform -- the full version and more of its cable TV network -- at an eye-opening $29.99.

In a new consumer study, nearly 70% of respondents said they were "not at all likely" to subscribe to the new service, while 16% said they were “somewhat likely” and 15% said they were "very likely" to subscribe.

The $29.99/month deal for the app is at a promotional price for the first 12 months -- then rising to $35.99. Consumers can maintain the $29.99 price when bundled with Disney+ and Hulu.

This data comes from CivicScience, which surveyed 645 U.S. adults who do not already subscribe to ESPN+, its limited sports content streaming platform.

Generally speaking, consumers still rate packaging streaming deals highly, according to Hub Entertainment Research.

For four of the top five leading streaming platforms, consumers listed “package deal” as the top or second-highest reason for new streaming sign-ups for Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+ and Max.

Netflix was the only service where consumers did not say they wanted a "package" deal as one of the top three reasons to subscribe to the service. "Value," "exclusive titles" and "specific show/movie" were the top reasons.

The rise in streaming packages to an extent has come with growing use of "aggregators" -- where consumers can easily buy multiple services in one place. This includes Roku and Amazon Prime Video Channels. Consumers subscribe to almost three more services in package deals versus consumers who pay for subscriptions directly.

The survey says packaging subscriptions in a bundle is now more important than signing up for a new or returning season of a specific TV series or movie.

“Many consumers feel overwhelmed trying to navigate all their services,” says the authors of the study. “So, providers that centralize the task of managing them have a big advantage – even if they don’t lower the cost of those subscriptions.”