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It was just four days ago that Venu Sports passed a major hurdle in becoming a reality when Disney purchased Fubo, putting an end to a lawsuit that had held up the launch of the joint streaming bundle. However, in a bizarre twist on Friday, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that they were no longer going forward together with Venu Sports.
Even stranger, the companies didn’t even give a good reason as to why they were shuttling plans for Venu Sports.
“Venu Sports, the proposed virtual MVPD service from ESPN, FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery, will be discontinued,” the companies said in a joint statement. “The collective decision by the three companies not to move forward with the contemplated joint venture is effective immediately.
“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 Venu Sports website, as of Friday morning was still active and reads, “Watch the biggest games and sporting events happening live and on-demand. More Info Coming Soon.”
On Monday, following Disney’s purchase of Fubo, Disney EVP and head of corporate development Justin Warbrooke said in a statement, “This combination will allow both Hulu+ Live TV and Fubo to enhance and expand their virtual MVPD offerings and provide consumers with even more choice and flexibility. We have confidence in the Fubo management team and their ability to grow the business, delivering high-quality offerings that serve subscribers with the content they want and offering great value.”
Perhaps Disney decided that by owning Fubo, who went from suing them over “their iron grip on sports content to extract billions of dollars in supra-competitive profits from distributors and consumers” to now being very excited to be joining them, they no longer needed Venu Sports.
Another issue that Disney is still facing in this situation is the fact that DirecTV challenged the dismissal of Fubo’s lawsuit against Venu Sports on Thursday, claiming that the antitrust issues that were raised in the lawsuit still stand.
“By this settlement, defendants pay off and seek to subsume the very competitor that raised these antitrust violations to the Court,” DirecTV wrote.
EchoStar (Dish Network) also wrote their own letter to the judge, echoing DirecTV’s concerns, claiming Disney, Fox and WBD “purchased their way out of their antitrust violation.”