BREAKING: Disney, Fox, WBD Reveal Name of Sports Streaming Platform, Venu Sports

Since the joint venture was initially announced in February, the sports and entertainment worlds have been anxiously awaiting whatever morsels of details they could get about the collaborative sports streaming service between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Despite industry members playfully dubbing the JV “Spulu” — a portmanteau of “Sports” and “Hulu” — we now know the official name for the service set to launch this fall. The platform that will unite all of ESPN, Fox, and WBD’s sports programming will be known as Venu Sports.

Key Details:

• Venu Sports will be home for all of the sports content from ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
• The price of the forthcoming streamer has not yet been announced, but estimates put it at around $50 per month.
• The platform will carry live feeds of numerous channels even when they are not airing sports programming.

The forthcoming streamer will provide around-the-clock access to 14 linear channels from the three companies, even when they are not airing sports content. That means that consumers will be able to watch channels like ABC, Fox, and TNT when they are broadcasting football and basketball games, but also when they are airing local news, their primetime programming, and major movies.

In addition, Venu Sports will be home to events that cannot be found on broadcast and cable channels, including streaming exclusives that are otherwise only available on ESPN+ and Max. On-demand sports content from ESPN, Fox, and WBD’s vast library of titles will also be available on Venu.

“We are excited to officially introduce Venu Sports, a brand that we feel captures the spirit of an all-new streaming home where sports fans outside of the traditional pay TV eco-system can experience an incredible collection of live sports, all in one place,” Venu’s CEO Pete Distad said. “As preparations for the platform continue to accelerate, we are singularly focused on delivering a best-in-class product for our target audience, built from the ground up using the latest technologies to engage and entertain discerning sports fans wanting one-stop access to live games.”

Venu Sports is scheduled to launch this fall ahead of the NFL, college football, NBA, and NHL seasons. As the streaming world continues to consolidate, it will not only be available directly to consumers via its own standalone app, but customers who already subscribe to Disney+, Hulu, or Max — or some combination of them all — will be able to add the service to their bundle.

The collective companies have not yet revealed the price or subscription plans for the service, but The Streamable’s expert estimation is that Venu will cost between $40-$50 per month, with comments from Fox executives indicating that it could be on the higher end of that scale.