RANT SPORTS – Venue Sports scraped
Venue Sports a streaming service partnership between ESPN, Discovery Warner Brothers (Turner), and FOX has been halted. It was set to launch last September with NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, college sports and other high profile content for one price. Friday through a joint statement by the three media giants announced they were no longer going through with the service.
The decision comes after Disney agreed to take a stake in the Fubo streaming service and fold its Hulu live-TV service into it. Many in the broadcast and streaming industry thought that would open the door for the launch of Venue.
It was to be the one-stop shopping source for sports fans:
- FOX: FOX, FS1, FS2 and BTN
- Disney: ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS and ESPN+
- Warner Bros. Discovery: TNT, TBS, and TruTV
The ESPN, WB-Discovery and FOX statement
“After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service,” ESPN, Fox and WBD said in a statement. “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.”
What happened?
A few key issues happened since their proposed launch in the Fall of 2024.Venu missed the optimal launch window of a new NFL season, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has lost the National Basketball Association (NBA) rights that made it a key partner, and ESPN is pressing ahead with its new direct-to-consumer (DTC) service.
Another issue that was an issue was the pricing for Venu Sports it was set at $42.99 per month after a seven-day free trial. But many fans felt that with Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount+, Peacock, and Roku the price point was a little too much even for the biggest sports fans.
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ESPN launching its stand-alone streaming channel
Disney is targeting the debut of ESPN “Flagship,” an all-inclusive ESPN streaming service, for August 2025. The still unnamed ESPN streaming service will include everything that airs on ESPN’s linear network, unlike ESPN+
Meanwhile, WBD (Turner Sports) will continue to use MAX as their streaming service. They have seen success with MAX because of their sports and entertainment mix.
As for FOX at present, they are the only linear network with a sports streaming arm or partner. That could change as they do work with Apple TV+ on MLS broadcasts.
Conclusion
As of now the combination of entertainment programming with live sports seems to be a good model for streamers. A stand-alone streaming service at a price of over $40 per month seems like a weak business model.
Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and YouTube all want more sports. It seems that a sports streaming service was not what the market wanted at such a big price.
