Slashdot Media’s Post

Judge Bars Disney, Warner, Fox From Launching Sports Streamer Venu: A federal judge blocked the launch of Venu, a sports streaming joint venture by Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, due to concerns it would substantially lessen competition and harm FuboTV. Variety reports: Fubo launched in 2015 as a start-up focused on streaming sports programming. [...] Venu, expected to launch in late August ahead of the start of the NFL's coming fall season and priced at an initial price tag of $42.99 per month, was to carry all of the sports offerings of ESPN, Fox Sports 1 and 2, and TNT for a price that is seen as more than a regional sports network but less than a full programming package available via YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV. The three parent companies are targeting a new generation of consumers who disdain the high costs of traditional cable packages are more at home with signing up for streaming venues that are relatively easy to get in and out of based on the availability of favorite entertainment programs or sporting events. Judge Garnett found that once Venu launches, FuboTV would face "a swift exodus" of large numbers of subscribers, and indicated she felt "that Fubo's bankruptcy and delisting of the company's stock will likely soon follow. These are quintessential harms that money cannot adequately repair." Fubo alleged that Venu's launch "will cause it to lose approximately 300,000 to 400,000 (or nearly 30%) of its subscribers, suffer a significant decline in its ability to attract new subscribers, lose between $75 and $95 million in revenue, and be transformed into a penny stock awaiting delisting from the New York Stock Exchange, all before year-end 2024," the judge said in her decision. "We respectfully disagree with the court's ruling and are appealing it," Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement. "We believe that Fubo's arguments are wrong on the facts and the law, and that Fubo has failed to prove it is legally entitled to a preliminary injunction. Venu Sports is a pro-competitive option that aims to enhance consumer choice by reaching a segment of viewers who currently are not served by existing subscription options." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Judge Bars Disney, Warner, Fox From Launching Sports Streamer Venu: A federal judge blocked the launch of Venu, a sports streaming joint venture by Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, due to concerns it would substantially lessen competition and harm FuboTV. Variety reports: Fubo launched in 2015 as a start-up focused on streaming sports programming. [...] Venu, expected to launch in late August ahead of the start of the NFL's coming fall season and priced at an initial price tag of $42.99 per month, was to carry all of the sports offerings of ESPN, Fox Sports 1 and 2, and TNT for a price that is seen as more than a regional sports network but less than a full programming package available via YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV. The three parent companies are targeting a new generation of consumers who disdain the high costs of traditional cable packages are more at home with signing up for streaming venues that are relatively easy to get in and out of based on the availability of favorite entertainment programs or sporting events. Judge Garnett found that once Venu launches, FuboTV would face "a swift exodus" of large numbers of subscribers, and indicated she felt "that Fubo's bankruptcy and delisting of the company's stock will likely soon follow. These are quintessential harms that money cannot adequately repair." Fubo alleged that Venu's launch "will cause it to lose approximately 300,000 to 400,000 (or nearly 30%) of its subscribers, suffer a significant decline in its ability to attract new subscribers, lose between $75 and $95 million in revenue, and be transformed into a penny stock awaiting delisting from the New York Stock Exchange, all before year-end 2024," the judge said in her decision. "We respectfully disagree with the court's ruling and are appealing it," Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement. "We believe that Fubo's arguments are wrong on the facts and the law, and that Fubo has failed to prove it is legally entitled to a preliminary injunction. Venu Sports is a pro-competitive option that aims to enhance consumer choice by reaching a segment of viewers who currently are not served by existing subscription options." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Upcoming sports streaming service, Venu, announced its pricing today-- $42.99/month. -Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox and Disney's ESPN joined forces earlier this year in this streaming joint venture, which plans to launch this fall and include 14 live traditional TV channels and all of the sports these three media giants currently offer. -This price point shouldn't come as a surprise. Direct-to-consumer sports streaming services are typically offered at higher prices so it won't shake up the traditional pay TV bundle, which shells out big fees for sports content channels. Live sports remain the most watched TV, and media rights valuations have ballooned due to this. -Those who sign up at the $42.99/month will have access to that entry pricing for 12 months, Venu noted Thursday — signaling there could be price increases ahead. -Venu's leadership has said the platform is targeting sports fans outside the bundle. Read more on CNBC:

Judge blocks plans for sports joint streaming venture among Fox, ESPN And Warner Bros.Discovery. The launch of Venu Sports will be delayed after a federal judge granted FuboTV's request for a preliminary injunction against the proposed venture between ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. FuboTV filed the lawsuit two weeks after ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Hulu announced they planned to launch a sports-streaming service. United States District Judge Margaret M. Garnett in the Southern District of New York said in her 69-page ruling that Fubo was likely to succeed in proving that the joint venture would violate antitrust laws and that Fubo and consumers "would suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction”. FuboTV said in its filing that it has tried for years to offer a sports-only streaming service but has been prevented from doing so by ESPN. Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery have imposed bundling requirements on FuboTV that Fubo claims force it to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to license and carry content that its customers do not want or need. Venu Sports announced on August 1 that it would be available for $42.99 per month with a planned launch in the autumn. The platform would include offerings from 14 linear networks - ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, TNT, TBS, truTV - as well as ESPN+. Subscribers would have the option to bundle the product with Disney+, Hulu and/or Max. Streaming platforms and broadcasters need to find a way to share this content without litigation, without disputes. This cake can be sliced into many pieces, and each content provider can make money and give their subscribers and viewers satisfaction and what they really want to watch. This situation could be the start of a debate on the right to watch sport. A few questions came to my mind. Events such as the Olympics, the World Cup, the EURO and many others belong to society. Citizens pay taxes and national teams are largely sponsored by their money. Shouldn't that mean they have the right to watch games and athletes representing their countries or states for free wherever they want? Isn't it a kind of human, constitutional right to have access to this entertainment? We can be sure that TV channels and streaming platforms will fight for every profit opportunity. But sport is different, it makes people happy, it brings families, communities, states, countries, the whole world together. The market has to find a way, a solution to this problem, it won't be easy to balance cost and profit and people's enjoyment, but I strongly believe it can be done. Let me know what you think in the comments. You can find a link to the full article in the first comment under this post. Follow my profile to stay up-to-date when it comes to industry news, technology updates, and market analysis. #SzymonKarbowski #StreamVX #FuboTV #Fox #ESPN #WarnerBrosDiscovery #VenuSports #Disney #Hulu #Max

✅🖥️ THR (3/1): “The untitled streaming platform, unveiled Feb. 6 and scheduled to launch this fall, will offer live linear channels like ESPN, Fox, ABC, TNT, and TBS, as well as games and other sports rights from all three companies on a nonexclusive basis. It will be offered directly to consumers but also as a bundle with WBD’s Max, Disney’s ESPN+, and Hulu. FuboTV during a morning analyst call didn’t hold back when responding to questions about the impact of the lawsuit and upcoming competition from the rival sports streamer. “This is a duel to the death. It has been when we started the company. We are fighting for consumers. We are fighting for our customers. We are fighting for the tens of billions of dollars that are wasted annually by consumers paying for the same content multiple times,” he told analysts. The FuboTV lawsuit claims the partners in the proposed rival sports streamer call for licensing rates 30% to 50% higher than other distributors like Hulu and YouTube as those streamers receive rebates that lower their content rates. FuboTV’s global revenue rose 28% to $410.2MM, up from a year-earlier $319.3MM, with $401.8MM of that coming from North America. The sports and entertainment streamer hit 1.61MM subscribers in North America during the fourth quarter, up 12% year-on-year. Subscription revenue came to $370.0MM, against a year-earlier $284.6MM, while advertising revenue edged up to $40.0MM, compared to $33.8MM last year ⬇️ 🏀🏈⚾️⚽️🏒🏄♂️ #streamingtv #ctvadvertising #cordcutting

Fubo stops Venu's sports platform - what next? "Sports-first live TV streaming platform fuboTV Network has been successful in stopping the launch of The Walt Disney Company, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery’s Venu Sports joint venture (JV) after its request for a preliminary injunction was approved by the US District Court, Southern District of New York on August 16th." "Fubo had sought to stop the launch of the JV that would have controlled roughly 60 per cent which to 80 per cent of live broadcast sports content, according to its partners. Fubo presented evidence of the JV’s primary effect of limiting competition, removing consumer choice, and ultimately leading to steep price hikes for consumers and boosting profits for the partners. Fubo’s goal is to ensure a competitive sports streaming marketplace that offers consumers choice, affordable pricing, flexibility and innovation." So, the JV is on hold at the moment, the biggest shift to change the #media landscape with #streamingplatforms has hit a huge setback. What will happen next? The concerns that Fubo brings up are completely legitimate about price fixing, anti-competitive concerns, and under normal circumstances, it would seem like a clear monopolistic practice. And yet, given the changing state of the market, it seems that we will have to get used to more legacy businesses joining forces. In the long-term, it seems like it's one of two ways to survive, that and bundling. Traditional moves that would be considered monopolistic, like Discovery and Warner joining forces, has to be seen in the context of the current market, their traditional business model is changing and their losing money. Perhaps the sports platform, with its inelastic demand, is too big an issue, and domination of rights will allow for abuse. However, on other platforms, general entertainment and even some more sports, it seems inevitable we will see further market consolidation. How do you move towards the future without threatening anti-trust practices? #streamingmedia #streaming #tvindustry #sportsmedia #broadcastmedia #broadcasting #mediaindustry #antitrust https://lnkd.in/eJ6_U6VF

Check out our President, Fred Santarpia’s perspective on the increased growth and investment in direct-to-consumer by sports entities in this recent Digiday article 👇 #Streaming #D2C #OTT #SportsTech

I recently had the opportunity to connect with Sam Bradley at Digiday about the increased investment in direct-to-consumer (D2C) sports streaming services. We discussed a topic I firmly believe in: D2C is no longer an ‘either or’ option and is now becoming a core element to any rights holder’s media portfolio. We continue to see more and more sports entities embrace the benefits of going D2C - audience reach, direct relationships, increased revenue and ad dollars, etc. - while complementing traditional broadcast strategies. Launching a streaming service is a long-term investment with a high-reward when a solid strategy and execution plan is in place, and why we see many leagues and clubs lean in on direct-to-consumer. Endeavor Streaming is proud to serve as a trusted partner to leading sports rights holders and owners, helping them drive sizable reach and added value for their global fanbases.

It's a money story, after all. South Korea has recently entered the era of "paid sports streaming" with the launch of a pro- baseball streaming package (5,500 won per month, Tving). The debate over the appropriateness of the price has been hotly debated in Korea. "The viewing value of professional baseball is 5,500 won per month The United States, long accustomed to paying to watch sports events, has recently seen the extremes of sports streaming. It has seen the rise of 'super sports streaming', which has taken over 85% of the total sports broadcast market. It's no secret that sports are good for streaming subscriptions. This joint venture platform between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery could certainly attract a lot of subscribers. If the NFL, NBA, NHL, etc. are all on one service, it's going to get a lot of attention. You don't need AI replays or anything like that. The sports themselves are immersive. FuboTV-Led Coalition Asks Congress for Hearing on Disney-Fox-Warner Sports Streaming Platform "How much is an all-in-one sports package worth?" But the question is price. How much would Americans be willing to pay for an all-in-one sports package, and who would seek it out? It's not going to be all ESPN subscribers, and it's not going to be all ESPN subscribers. DirectMediaLab will find the right price for your sports package, but of course it has to be less than the average price of a cable TV package ($80/month). https://lnkd.in/gpghyF-H

"In the competitive world of live sports streaming, Netflix is taking another step into the arena." CNBC reports our take regarding the streamer's live sports strategy: "Netflix may even have a leg up on its sports #streaming peers, according Brandon Katz, an entertainment industry strategist at Parrot Analytics. The company’s huge content repository can help retain viewers who might have subscribed just for live sports, he said, and Netflix’s knowledge of its niche audiences can really strengthen targeted advertisements. Although its ad-tier growth has been slow going, Katz said advertisers generally remain excited about Netflix’s long-term potential. As of January 2024, Netflix’s ad-supported tier had more than 23 million monthly active users. “I think there is still a strong, strong affinity for the platform in the long term — I believe advertisers see the upside,” he said. “I believe they see Netflix has, for better and for worse for the industry, managed to overcome every challenge and every setback that’s been thrown at it as an original content producer.” Read the full article: https://hubs.ly/Q02xsyWf0