Venu Sports, the prospective joint venture sports streaming platform planned by Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), has now been scrapped.
The project has been discontinued effective immediately despite Disney removing one major opponent in the form of FuboTV, which it purchased earlier this week.
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At a launch price of $42.99, Venu would have combined the sports streaming property portfolios of Disney, Fox, and WBD and control over 50% of live sports broadcasts in the US both regionally and nationally.
In a joint statement, the three partners said: “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.”
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By GlobalDataSince its inception, Venu Sports has been mired in legal trouble, and only yesterday (January 9), DirecTV, another vocal opponent of the venture, sent a letter to Judge Margaret Garnett of the New York Southern District Court questioning the recent dismissal of legal proceedings against Venu Sports due to Disney’s purchase of FuboTV.
The prospective continuation of legal troubles likely factored into the trio’s decision to end the venture.
FuboTV filed a lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and WBD in February 2024, seeking the blocking of Venu Sports, restrictions on the trio such as economic parity of licensing terms, and “substantial monetary damages”.
The launch of Venu Sports was ultimately delayed after FuboTV was granted a preliminary injunction by Garnett last August. The platform was originally slated for launch in late 2024.
Garnett upheld Fubo’s claims that the joint venture, which was slated to house over 50% of all US sports rights on one service, would lessen competition, limit consumer choice, enable price gouging, and impinge on the ability of Venu’s rivals to do business competitively.
A WBD representative at the time claimed in court, now seemingly correctly, that the injunction would “terminate” the joint venture altogether.
