Last week, The Walt Disney Company, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that they agreed to discontinue their joint venture, and therefore renounce to launch their Venu Sports streaming service. As a reminder, the platform was supposed to include 14 linear TV channels - including prominent sports channels (like ESPN, TNT, or FS1), local ABC / Fox broadcast stations, a catalog of on-demand sports content, and access to ESPN+. With this offer, Venu would target the “cord cutter and cord never fans currently not served by existing pay TV packages.” The initial launch – planned before the start of the ongoing NFL season - had been blocked following Fubo’s lawsuit. Earlier this month, this lawsuit was dismissed as part of an agreement between Disney and Fubo to combine their respective Hulu and FuboTV live TV assets, with Disney owning 70% of the newly formed venture. Besides the sports focus, Disney will also aim to gain market shares from YouTube TV, currently the largest vMVPD in the US, far ahead of Hulu. As of Q3 2024, the combined Hulu-Fubo product would boast more than 6M subscribers. However, this blocked launch was potentially an actual blessing for Venu, as several doubts had been raised about its legitimate appeal, in terms of content and pricing. Even though Venu was probably not the answer, the bright side was that broadcasters or aggregators were finally trying to make the sports viewing and discovery experience easier for fans. Until the combined Hulu-Fubo product sees the light, other actors should indeed try to fill in the void left by Venu, whether through new offers or new aggregation tools. DirecTV has already announced the launch of MySports, a streaming package bundling more than 40 sports channels. Regarding aggregation tools, we can mention the Vizio Sports Zone, or the Roku Sports Experience. All these initiatives will ultimately positively affect fans’ time spent consuming sports, after they long had to bear alone the burden of sports’ fragmentation. This research highlight is based on our data coverage of OTT and Video, TV distribution and Sports in North America. Please contact us to get a demo and see the depth of our service. Don't miss our next event, NXT Media Days Los Angeles in Los Angeles, on May 29, bringing together two dynamic event series, each focusing on pivotal areas of the evolving media and advertising ecosystem. By uniting Commerce Media Days Los Angeles and CTV Ad Days Los Angeles under one brand, we provide a cohesive hub for industry professionals to explore cutting-edge trends, share insights, and develop strategies that will drive the future of media and advertising.