Lachlan Murdoch said the new Fox streaming service he’s been teasing for months will be called Fox One and will launch before the start of football season this fall. He promised analysts on a call today that more details are to come.
Pricing is still a key questions and said the price “will be in line with our wholesale pricing,” so it will be “healthy.” And he said at the conference after strong March quarter earnings that the company will be seeking out partnerships with other distributors and streaming services. “Will will be bundling with a number of other services,” Murdoch said, and many have already approached.
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The new streaming platform will be run by Pete Distad. At a conference recently, Murdoch had modest initial subscriber projections in the “mid-single digit millions” and year-end launch. It will be “holistic” of all the company’s content including Fox Sports and Fox News.
In its official announcement, Foxs said Fox One will bring together live streaming and on-demand access to the full portfolio of Fox brands including Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Weather, FoxSports, FS1, FS2, BTN, Fix Deportes, Fox Local Stations and the Fox network as well as the option to bundle Fox Nation — it’s existing streaming service — within one platform.
“We know that FOX has the most loyal and engaged audiences in the industry, and FOX One is designed to reach outside of the pay-TV bundle and deliver all the best FOX branded content directly to viewers wherever they are,” said CEO Pete. “We have built this platform from the ground up to allow consumers to enjoy and engage with our programming in new and exciting ways, leveraging cutting edge technology to enhance the user experience across the platform.”
The platform will feature advanced personalization technology “that adapts to viewing preferences while seamlessly integrating live and video on-demand content in a cohesive experience.”
Murdoch has been very careful. and was again today, to stress that the goal is not to cannibalize linear television and Fox will not advertise it on linear television but it is meant to capture viewers who have cut the cord or have never subscribed to cable.
This is a service that in some ways rises out of the ashes of Venu, a sports streaming JV with Fox, Disney and WBD and also run by Distad. It languished in court and the partners changed their minds and scrapped it. Fox is going it alone now but there’ already been infrastructure and learnings. Fox has a much smaller streaming presence than other big media companies.