ESPN is 80% owned by Disney and 20% by Hearst.
ESPN is the most expensive channel carried in this country. It costs $9.50 per cable subscription, or close to $13 per when you figure in all of the other ESPN properties.
Disney stock is down almost 19% from its 52-week high and it is spending close to $9 billion to buy the remainder of Hulu from Comcast, which owns NBC. It was at $189 a share less than three years ago and now trades for $96.
ESPN is a channel and brand name, not a network. It doesn't have its own infrastructure or marketing muscle. It would be too expensive to sell it as an App, even with all properties included. The buyer has to have the money, the expertise and the ability to scale (not likely) or integrate ESPN properties into existing bundles.
The only potential buyers are Hearst (which is not interested), Comcast (possibly), Apple, Amazon or a Chinese or Middle East company.
MonkeyGee : Maybe Disney is buying the rest of ESPN to spinoff with PENN.