Analysts Unsurprised That Plug Was Pulled on Venu
Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) axing their planned Venu sports streaming joint venture is unsurprising, industry watchers said. The programmers announced Venu's demise early Friday (see 2501100002).
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Disney buying a majority stake in FuboTV, which was suing on antitrust grounds to stop Venu (see 2501060003), effectively killed Venu, TVREV analyst Alan Wolk wrote. Disney is combining Fubo with its Hulu+ Live TV streaming service and offering there an ESPN-centric sports package that will be similar to the concept of Venu, he added. That reduced the need to be involved in Venu, especially when WBD had lost NBA rights to Amazon, he said. "If you think [Disney is] going to sell against that [Fubo] app, I’ve got a bridge to sell you."
Antenna President Rameez Tase wrote that Disney had "too much surface area" with three competing sports brands: ESPN, Hulu+ Live TV and Venu, and the deal with Fubo lets it reduce brand confusion and double down on ESPN and Hulu. He said Disney can do deals with Fox and WBD that include ESPN, which would still give it an ESPN offering sports programming beyond what Disney owns. While Fubo said it was dropping its lawsuit against Venu as part of its Disney deal, DirecTV and Dish Network had urged the federal court-imposed injunction against Venu to stand (see 2501090010).
DirecTV and Dish could have potentially put on trial not just the legality of Venu but the industry practice of network owners bundling less-desired networks with must-have ones and imposing penetration minimums, MoffettNathanson wrote. "With the cable network cash flows at Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery each rely on at risk the three partners decided to ... cut their losses and call it quits," it said.
“After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service," Disney, Fox and WBD said. "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."
Venu critics celebrated. "The anticompetitive Venu Sports has been defeated!" Sports Fan Coalition posted on X. "This JV would have been extremely harmful to fans," it said, adding that it's watching Disney's Fubo deal, "which still seems to foreclose competition." "This is a win for sports fans," ACA Connects said. "The media giants behind this sports streaming juggernaut threatened to control the marketplace so they could jack up prices and force consumers to pay for bloated bundles of programming." It added, "A more competitive and level playing field ... starts with allowing everyone, not just the biggest media players, to offer their customers the programming they want at prices they can afford.” DirecTV, in an emailed statement, said it "look[s] forward to working with our programming partners -- including Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery -- to compete on a level playing field [in the delivery of] more choice, control, and value all-in-one experience. ”