Disney and Fubo have announced that they are merging their Hulu + Live TV and Fubo services into a single business. Here’s what that means, including why it will bring the revival of the planned Venu Sports bundle.
Venu Sports is a key part of new Disney-Fubo merger
Last year, Disney, FOX, and Warner Bros Discovery jointly announced the launch of a new sports bundle service called Venu.
Venu Sports would cost $42.99/month and include sports from all three major streaming players. Venu was essentially a lot like the original Hulu, but for sports. It brought together multiple companies behind a joint streaming venture.
Venu was supposed to launch in the fall, but a lawsuit from Fubo stopped it.
Now, today’s merger announcement means a lot of things for Venu, Disney, Hulu, Fubo, and more.
Here are a handful of the impacts and details:
- All legislation brought by Fubo has been officially settled
- Venu Sports is now able to finally launch any time now
- Hulu + Live TV is being joined with Fubo as a new standalone business
- However, Hulu + Live TV and Fubo will continue both being offered as separate services
- And finally, Fubo will be creating its own sports service featuring Disney-owned properties like ABC and ESPN+
There are clearly a lot of ramifications from this merger, but it will probably take some time before we see the full impact play out.
The mess of sports in the streaming era
Today’s merger news highlights just how messy sports can be in the streaming era.
It’s also especially wild when you take into account that in addition to Venu being a big new sports offering for Disney, it’s not necessarily the main sports project for the company.
Disney is also working hard to launch its own standalone ESPN streaming service this fall (not to be confused with ESPN+). That new service will offer essentially the cable version of ESPN programming, but in a streaming app.
It’s no wonder Apple wanted to strike a comprehensive streaming deal with the MLS a few years back. If you can’t get all the sports on your streamer, it can be extremely challenging to build a compelling sporting option for users.
Are you interested in Venu Sports? Or any of the changes enabled by Disney and Fubo’s new merger? Let us know in the comments.
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