In May, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox introduced an idea for a sports streaming platform that had Nerdist calling it a cable-less cable creation. In essence, what the Disney-Fox-Warner Bros. Discovery streamer, called Venu Sports for its short existence, sought to do was recreate cable, but this time in app form. The three companies sought to combine all their sports offerings into this one platform. Only the NFL was beyond the reach of Venu Sports. It seemed like kind of an absurd suggestion to us. And it turns out we weren’t the only ones who felt that way about the platform. Before having lived to stream a sport at all, Venu Sports is officially dead and canceled. The Disney-Fox-Warner Bros. Discovery sports streaming app will not see the light of day.
Here’s what the companies had to say about their decision to scrap Venu Sports. In a statement, they shared:
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. We are proud of the work that has been done on Venu to date and grateful to the Venu staff, whom we will support through this transition period.”
But what happened to make the companies scrap Venu Sports, when Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox all seemed so confident in it before? Well, a few complicating factors. Firstly, a judge blocked the launch of Venu Sports with an injunction just before it was set to originally launch. Fubo, another sports streamer, asserted that Venu Sports “substantially lessen competition and restrain trade.” Which… yeah, that seemed true to us as well from the outside looking in. According to Variety, had Venu Sports continued to exist, they may have faced similar complaints from satellite operators DISH and DirecTV. Once again, that makes a lot of sense to us. Even without fully understanding all the technicalities, it seemed this bundle was just taking up too much sports real estate—becoming something other than just a streaming network.
But, as it turns out, Disney settled things with Fubo on its own, agreeing to buy a 70% stake in Fubo in exchange for the company dripping its Venu Sports lawsuit. Fubo will now sell its own sports streaming services and also Hulu live-TV, which is owned by Disney. Given that Disney also owns ESPN, and now a big stake in a company that specializes in sports streaming, it seems it no long had a need for Venu Sports. Sources indicate Disney will focus on its ESPN-based offerings going forward. It seemingly plans to launch ESPN as a standalone streamer currently known as “Flagship.”
Venu Sports would also have charged its subscribers $42.99/month. That’s not the most expensive streaming service out there, but it’s definitely high… So we feel like we’re not too sad to see it go.
Whatever comes next, for now, Venu Sports is OUT. Curiously, when the Venu Sports news first came out, many other streamer bundles were being announced, such as the Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle and the Peacock, Netflix and Apple TV+ bundle. We wonder what the dissolution of this Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox signals for streaming bundles going forward.