Major Media Withdraws Support for Venu Sports Streaming Platform – One America News Network
By Zaheer Kachwala and Dawn Chmielewski
January 10, 2025 – 8:28 AM PST
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(Reuters) – On Friday, Walt Disney (DIS.N), Fox, and Warner Bros Discovery decided to halt the launch of Venu Sports, their collaborative venture in live sports, citing significant legal challenges that emerged unexpectedly.
The news caused Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) shares to drop by 4.6%, while Fox’s (FOXA.O) stock fell around 2%, and Disney saw a loss of 1.5% following the sudden announcement.
Venu aimed to capture the attention of sports enthusiasts who had either cut the cord or never subscribed to cable television. However, it soon faced legal issues. Smaller streaming service FuboTV (FUBO.N) filed an antitrust lawsuit, alleging that the media companies secured Venu rights that were unavailable to other distributors, creating an unfair market advantage. Fubo’s shares gained approximately 1% on Friday.
“After thorough deliberation, we have mutually decided to terminate the Venu Sports joint venture,” the companies stated.
This week, Disney appeared to have navigated a legal hurdle by agreeing to acquire a majority stake in FuboTV and merge it with its Hulu+ Live TV service. In exchange, Fubo consented to withdraw its lawsuit against Venu Sports.
Nevertheless, this did not eliminate Venu’s legal challenges. Dish’s parent company, EchoStar, and DirecTV expressed concerns in letters to the federal district court judge on Thursday, insisting that the settlement failed to address the underlying antitrust issues affecting competitors.
Consequently, the three media entities chose to abandon Venu on the same day, fearing it would continue to drain resources, ultimately deciding they could engage young sports fans through arrangements with established pay-TV distributors, as reported by a reliable source.
“This development is certainly unexpected, illustrating the intricate nature of the U.S. market when launching a service, reminiscent of a spaghetti junction,” noted Paolo Pescatore, an analyst at PP Foresight.
Media corporations have been investing considerable resources to draw viewers to their platforms and enhance their audience numbers. The bundle was anticipated to be priced at $42.99, which may have met resistance from budget-conscious consumers already facing a myriad of streaming options.
“Even when competitors collaborate, the legal and operational hurdles can be overwhelming,” stated Ross Benes, senior analyst at Emarketer. “Venu’s brief existence follows in the footsteps of Quibi and CNN+. It leaves behind three major media companies grappling with a rapidly evolving landscape.”
Venu initially aimed to secure 5 million subscribers within its first year.
Last year, FuboTV managed to obtain a court injunction that blocked the initiative, a decision supported by the U.S. Justice Department and 16 states.
“We anticipate continuing our collaboration with our programming partners – including Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros Discovery – to compete fairly and provide sports fans with more options, control, and value,” stated DirecTV on Friday.
Disney, Fox, Warner Bros, and Fubo did not promptly reply to requests for comments.
Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala, Jaspreet Singh, Deborah Sophia, and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta
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