Venu Sports, the sports streaming service being developed by Disney, Fox Corp, and Warner Bros. Discovery, has officially been cancelled. The announcement comes a few days after Disney revealed changes to its own TV services.
Live sports events are currently scattered across different paid TV providers and streaming services, and Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox Corp collectively own the rights to many sports and associated shows. The three companies teamed up to create Venu Sports, which would have offered the same sports programming as ABC, ESPN, FOX, FS1, TNT, and other networks owned by the companies for one $42.99/month plan. That cost would have almost certainly increased over time, like every other streaming service, but that was the initial pitch.
Fubo TV, a streaming service primarily targeted at sports streaming, quickly sued the companies to block the launch of Venu Sports. Fubo alleged it couldn’t create a similar TV package, as media companies usually block TV providers from offering sports without additional channels that increase the package price. A U.S. judge agreed and temporarily halted the launch of Venu Sports.
The three companies have now abandoned plans for Venu Sports, saying in a statement, “After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service. In an ever-changing marketplace, we determined that it was best to meet the evolving demands of sports fans by focusing on existing products and distribution channels.”
The news comes only a few days after Disney and Fubo agreed to settle their legal disputes, seemingly paving the way for Venu Sports to arrive. Disney agreed to sell off its Hulu + Live TV service to Fubo, with Fubo keeping its existing service and management, and Disney getting a 70% share of the new combined Fubo company.
With Venu Sports now dead, the only hope left for sports streaming is the ‘Sports & Broadcast’ service that Disney and Fubo announced, which will include “Disney’s premier sports and broadcast networks including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, as well as ESPN+.” That doesn’t include any sports owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corp, though.
Source: ESPN
