Venu Sports, a joint streaming venture announced in February by Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), will no longer be launched. The app was initially intended to provide subscribers with access to a broad range of sports programming from the three companies’ linear channels, such as ABC, Fox, ESPN, FS1, and TruTV. This would have covered around 85% of the U.S. sports rights market. The app was expected to cost $43 per month, but it was not designed to offer original content at launch. Instead, it would have focused on bundling the sports programming from the three companies into one platform, catering to consumers looking for an all-in-one sports streaming service.
The companies behind Venu released a joint statement announcing their decision to cancel the venture. They explained that, after careful consideration, they concluded that it would be more effective to focus on their existing products and distribution channels. The rapidly changing market dynamics and the evolving demands of sports fans were also key factors in their decision. The companies expressed pride in the progress made with Venu so far and offered support to the staff involved in the project as they transition out of the venture.
The cancellation of Venu came after significant criticism from rivals and concerns raised by various parties about potential antitrust violations. Fubo, a sports streaming service, was one of the first to take legal action against the Venu venture. Fubo filed an antitrust lawsuit, arguing that the joint venture would lead to price hikes for streaming services by bundling unwanted content with sports programming, thereby forcing companies like Fubo to pay for irrelevant content. Fubo’s lawsuit resulted in a temporary injunction that blocked the launch of Venu, with a trial scheduled for October 2025 to address the legal issues in more detail.
In the meantime, Fubo reached a settlement with the three companies behind Venu. The settlement included Fubo merging with Disney’s Hulu + Live TV service, with Disney acquiring a 70% stake in the combined entity. As part of the agreement, Fubo would receive $220 million from Fox, Disney, and WBD. Despite the settlement, other rivals, such as DirectTV and EchoStar (which owns Dish), continued to express concerns about antitrust violations related to Venu. Both companies sent letters to the court urging the maintenance of the preliminary injunction against the app, arguing that the venture could harm competition in the market.
In the end, the cancellation of Venu allowed Fox, Disney, and WBD to avoid further litigation and potential backlash from competitors, regulators, and sports rights holders. While Venu had the potential to attract a large number of subscribers who sought a unified sports streaming platform, the legal challenges and antitrust concerns ultimately led to the decision to abandon the project. This marks the end of a promising yet controversial initiative in the sports streaming space.
