After an announcement, a price reveal, an antitrust lawsuit, a temporary block, and a merger to potentially lift the block, the Venu story has finally ended.
ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced today that they will not proceed with their much-talked-about sports streaming platform.
“After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service,” the statement reads. “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.”
Venu was announced in February last year. It was intended to be a single streaming platform for all the action from major leagues like the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, WNBA, NCAA, and more. At $42.99 per month, the platform would have featured content from the sports networks owned by all three media giants involved, including ESPN and sub-brands like ESPN+, ABC, FOX, and its FS1 and FS2 channels, TNT, and TBS.
Fubo promptly filed an antitrust lawsuit alleging that Venu prevented it “from competing fairly in the marketplace.” In an August ruling, federal Judge Margaret M. Garnett granted Fubo a preliminary injunction to block the launch of Venu, after she found the platform in question would violate section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act.
The project was stalled for many months after that, but a surprise merger earlier this week sparked rumors that it might be back in action. Disney merged its Hulu + Live platform with Fubo in a deal that saw The Walt Disney Company pay $220 million to secure 70% of Fubo. In return, Fubo dropped its lawsuit against Venu.
With the case settled, a Reuters report stated that ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. could ask the US Court of Appeals to reverse the August ruling. That hasn’t happened.
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Also, after the merger was announced on Jan. 6, Venu faced further hindrances from DirecTV and EchoStar. In letters to Judge Garnett on Jan. 7, the satellite TV providers said that despite the Fubo-Hulu merger, Venu remained anti-competitive in nature. Therefore, they requested that the August ruling not be reversed.
“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,” ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros said in their joint statement.
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About Jibin Joseph
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