| Venu Sports | |
| Area Served: | United States |
| Company Type: | Joint venture |
| Type: | OTT video streaming platform |
| Key People: | Pete Distad (CEO) |
| Current Status: | Proposed |
Venu Sports, or simply Venu, is a proposed sports-focused streaming service in the United States, to be operated as a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (via its majority-owned subsidiary ESPN Inc.), Fox Corporation (owner of Fox Sports), and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD, owner of TNT Sports). Announced on February 6, 2024, it is scheduled to launch by fall 2024, with each of the three partners owning one-third of the venture, subject to the negotiation of final contracts between them.
Venu would bundle virtually all of the U.S. national sports broadcast rights controlled by the three companies in a single subscription, with limited entertainment and news content. The service would be available as a standalone product, or sold as part of a bundle with one of the companies' other streaming platforms like Disney+, Hulu, or Max.
The joint venture partners have said Venu would be specifically targeted to cord-cutters and cord-nevers who do not currently subscribe to either a traditional cable or satellite TV package, or an existing mainstream virtual MVPD such as FuboTV or YouTube TV. This has been disputed by some existing TV providers, which have argued the launch of Venu will directly result in fewer subscriptions to their services. Government officials have also raised concerns about the venture's impact on competition. On August 16, 2024, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to block the venture's launch after FuboTV filed an antitrust lawsuit against Venu.
The service is expected to function similarly to a virtual MVPD in that it will carry almost all of the three companies' English-language U.S. linear broadcast and cable channels that offer sports content, including local stations and affiliates of the ABC and Fox broadcast networks (subject to the participation of the affiliates' owners); general sports channels ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, FS1, and FS2; college sports channels ACC Network, Big Ten Network, ESPNU, and SEC Network; and the three primary WBD cable networks that carry sports coverage: TBS, TNT, and TruTV.[1] It will also include access to the content of Disney's existing direct-to-consumer sports service ESPN+.The streaming service will provide access to the same sports events that are currently offered by the above-listed services, which include the majority of national broadcasting rights to NBA, NHL, and MLB games, the College Football Playoff and almost all NCAA-organized championships, as well as select NFL matches, among many other properties.However, the service will not provide access to sports events controlled by regional sports networks (RSNs), third-party streaming services such as Prime Video and Apple TV+, and other major traditional broadcasters, particularly Paramount Global (owner of CBS and Paramount+) and NBCUniversal (owner of NBC and Peacock). Moreover, Paramount and NBCUniversal were not invited to participate in the venture.
The companies have stated that all programming will be offered on a non-exclusive basis, as the channels and content will continue to be made available through existing TV providers and/or the companies' respective standalone services. In March 2024, an executive with Nexstar Media Group said independent broadcasters who own ABC and Fox network affiliates will be paid for distribution of their channels on the platform, which will be on an "opt-in" basis, suggesting some parts of the country might not have access to their ABC and/or Fox affiliate at launch.[2]
While subscribers will be able to watch any entertainment and news programming that regularly airs on these channels in addition to sports, the service will not carry other channels owned by these companies that are typically included in cable bundles, such as CNN or Fox News.[3] However, in situations where sports broadcasts are carried by the companies' other channels, those channels may be carried temporarily as "pop-up channels", using a concept that is common in Europe but relatively rare in the United States.
The initial announcement indicated the service would have a "new brand", though that brand was not identified immediately. Within the three companies, the project was initially known by the internal code name "Raptor".
In the absence of an announced name, several media analysts and news reports used the shorthand names "Hulu for Sports" and "Spulu", both alluding to general entertainment streaming service Hulu and its original joint venture ownership structure.[4] [5] [6] [7] At one point, the partners were reportedly considering making "Hulu Sports" the official name of the service, which would brand the service as an extension of Hulu (now controlled by Disney) despite having separate management.[8]
On May 16, 2024, the service's branding was announced as Venu Sports, or simply Venu.[9] "Venu" is pronounced like "venue" (as in a sports venue).[10]
Venu will be available individually through a new bespoke app, or as part of a bundle with Disney+, Hulu, and/or Max.[11] In May 2024, Disney and WBD separately announced plans to launch a bundle of the three latter services, but have not yet specifically addressed the possibility of a four-way bundle with Venu.[12]
Early reports indicated that the regular price per month would be higher than US$30, and likely at least $45, slotting it between the standalone streaming price of some individual RSNs like NESN 360 (in the $20-$30 range) and larger cable-style vMVPD packages like YouTube TV (which start at around $75).[13] [14] [15] On August 1, 2024, the launch price was announced as being $42.99 per month; this price is guaranteed for twelve months from the start of a subscription, but no long term commitment is required.[16]
The service will be overseen by a separate management team at arms-length from the three partners. On March 15, 2024, the partners announced that former Apple and Hulu executive Pete Distad would serve as the service's first CEO.[17] Additional executives were announced in June 2024, at which point Venu said there were already 150 executives and software engineers working on the product, the majority of those being Fox employees expected to move to the joint venture once finalized.[18] A placeholder website for the service had likewise been launched in May under Fox ownership, through a subsidiary named Rookie Enterprises LLC.[19]
Following the initial announcement, the three companies involved stated that the formation of the joint venture would not affect their respective plans to compete with each other for sports broadcast rights going forward, nor would the joint-venture service seek any exclusive rights of its own. Because of this, as well as the statement that all content will continue to be available through other platforms, many analysts initially indicated they did not expect the formation of the venture to raise antitrust concerns.[20]
Nonetheless, shortly after the announcement, traditional cable and satellite providers were reportedly reviewing the plans as to whether they may violate most favored nation clauses in existing contracts, unless the providers are allowed to also start offering lower-priced sports-focused packages. Analysts noted that some of these providers had been "begging for the right" to offer cheaper sports packages for years, but were blocked by programmers like Disney, Fox, and WBD, which had insisted that their sports channels be bundled with their other news and entertainment channels.[21]
The NFL was not informed about the service in advance of the February 2024 announcement, and shortly thereafter, media outlets reported the league was investigating whether it could block the service from carrying its games.[22]
The existing sports-focused vMVPD FuboTV also expressed concerns following the announcement about the venture's impact on "fair market competition". On February 20, FuboTV filed an antitrust lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking either to block the venture entirely, or for the court to alternatively impose economic and licensing restrictions.[23] Satellite TV providers DirecTV and Dish Network both filed briefs in support of Fubo's suit in April.[24] A subsequent letter to congressional leaders requesting hearings into the service was co-signed by all three providers as well as groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation.[25]
The United States Department of Justice also stated that it plans to review the terms of the joint venture once it is finalized.[26] Separately, Rep. Jerry Nadler, the ranking member of the United States House Committee on the Judiciary, and Rep. Joaquin Castro submitted a letter to Disney, Fox, and WBD on April 16 seeking answers on the impact the new service would have on competition and pricing. The owners were given two weeks from the letter's date to respond.[27] After receiving the owners' replies, Nadler and Castro sent a second letter on June 7, stating that these answers were "insufficient" regarding concerns about preventing collusion, ensuring consumer privacy, and methods to determine the service's pricing.[28]
On August 16, 2024, federal judge Margaret Garnett granted a preliminary injunction against Venu, blocking its launch while the FuboTV antitrust lawsuit continues, stating that the vMVPD is likely to succeed in proving its case that the venture will "substantially lessen competition and restrain trade".[29] [30]