Disney, WBD and Fox are pulling the Venu Sports streaming service before launch

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CNN
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Venu Sports, the streaming service shared by Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox Corp. and Disney, has been canceled before its launch, the trio made a surprise announcement on Friday morning.

The decision made jointly by WBD, Fox and Disney is effective immediately.

“After careful consideration, we have jointly agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service,” the trio said in a joint press release. “In an ever-changing market, we have determined that the best way to meet the evolving needs of sports fans is to focus on existing products and distribution channels.”

The decision to cancel Venu comes four days after Disney announced that its Hulu + Live TV service would be merging with Fubo. This ended the latter’s lawsuit, which had hampered the troubled sports streaming company’s launch for months.

While Disney’s Fubo deal appeared to pave the way for Venu’s launch, reports surfaced Thursday that satellite TV providers DirecTV and Dish had also asked a judge to reconsider dismissing Fubo’s case, suggesting further delays in the launch Launch of the platform suggested. Fubo declined to comment for this story.

Legacy media companies have been working for years to move away from relying on the traditional cable bundle and toward profitable streaming services, as millions of consumers cancel cable subscriptions each year, a migration sparked by the rapid rise of Netflix.

WBD (CNN’s parent company), Fox and Disney first announced plans to launch Venu Sports last February, saying at the time that the super streamer would launch in fall 2024. The companies initially marketed the platform as a one-stop shop for sports fans to find a wide range of content in an otherwise kaleidoscopic market that has increasingly spread sports franchises across a range of cable and streaming platforms.

Venu Sports would have combined the trio’s respective sports portfolios on a single platform – including NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, FIFA World Cup games, NASCAR racing, UFC games and PGA TOUR golf tournaments.

In August, Fubo filed a lawsuit to block the platform’s launch, claiming at the time that WBD, Fox and Disney had used their sports media rights to get past competitors in a single anti-competitive package. To settle the lawsuit, Disney, Fox and WBD said Monday they would pay Fubo $220 million and Disney would give Fubo a $145 million loan through 2026.

While Venu’s launch has seemed increasingly unlikely in recent months, Disney has touted its yet-to-be-launched flagship streaming platform ESPN as a viable way out. But Disney’s deal with Fubo on Monday made it seem like the Magic Kingdom was hedging its bets on its ESPN platform. Venu’s dissolution will now likely result in Disney doubling down on its ESPN streamer, which is set to launch later this year.