Venu Sports, the proposed virtual MVPD service from Disney’s ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery, will be discontinued, the three companies said Friday in what they called a collective decision not to move forward with the contemplated joint venture.
The decision is effective immediately, they said. The move is the latest and, it seems, last in a tortuous saga coming after a transaction announced earlier this week between Disney and Fubo and a related settlement appeared to have paved the way for Venu to launch. The debut of the sports streaming service had been delayed by a Fubo lawsuit that was headed to court.
More from Deadline
-
Disney To Merge Hulu Live TV With Fubo, Settling Venu Lawsuit
-
Warner Bros. Discovery Names Ryan Gould And Bobby Voltaggio Presidents Of U.S. Ad Sales
-
RIP Venu, But Lachlan Murdoch Says Fox Will Finally Launch Its Own DTC Service This Year
“After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service. 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. We are proud of the work that has been done on Venu to date and grateful to the Venu staff, whom we will support through this transition period,” the erstwhile partners said in a statement this morning.
It’s an odd look just five days after the announcement of Disney’s Fubo transaction and Fubo’s settlement with Venu’s partners. Deadline hears that while the three partners all ultimately agreed to kill Venu, they were not all as energetic as Disney in pushing that outcome.
The distribution situation on the ground has changed since Venu was envisioned, with the market moving to more so-called “skinny bundles” of content, as per a recent Disney distribution deal with DirecTV, and anticipated with Fubo. So, while the Disney-Fubo transaction cleared the way for Venu, the deal, in itself, also contributed to changing market dynamics.
Disney is also said to be prioritizing the launch of flagship streamer ESPN+ for fall of 2025.
Time is a factor. Nearly a year has passed in a fast-moving media landscape since Venu was announced with fanfare in early 2024. It named a CEO, Pete Distad, a suite of senior executives, and had a team of engineers working on the platform, only to see a planned September launch stayed by a temporary injunction.
The transaction announced Monday, just hours before a scheduled court hearing in New York, calls for Disney to combine its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo and become majority owner of the resulting company, creating a major streaming player and settling litigation between Fubo and Disney, Fox and WBD over Venu.