UPDATE: It is now confirmed that Disney’s Hulu + Live TV and Fubo will be combined into a single company thanks to a wide-ranging agreement between the companies that not only will result in the live TV streaming platforms coming under the same umbrella but will also allow Fubo to launch new channel packages and a new sports streaming service.

The deal also brings to an end Fubo’s anti-trust lawsuit over the Venu Sports streaming service from Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, paving the way for the joint venture to finally launch. While the two companies have revealed a lot about the deal, there are plenty of unanswered questions that still remain. Stick with The Streamable as we bring you all of the latest news around this landscape-changing story.

Coming into the new year, we here at The Streamable anticipated some pretty big stories and customer-friendly bundles, but even we didn’t foresee news like this dropping on the first day that many people are getting back to work. Following a nearly year-long legal battle over the proposed joint venture streaming service Venu Sports, reports indicate that sports-focused streaming service Fubo is set to merge with the Disney-owned Hulu + Live TV.

Key Details:

• A deal to merge Fubo and Hulu + Live TV could be announced this week.
• The combination would bring together 6 million customers, making it the second-largest live TV streamer.
• The deal would also result in Fubo dropping its anti-trust lawsuit against Venu Sports.

According to reporting from Bloomberg's Michelle F Davis, Lucas Shaw, and Christopher Palmeri, Disney and Fubo are close to a deal that would launch in a new joint venture that will fold Hulu + Live TV into Fubo. Disney will own 70% of the project while Fubo will own the remaining 30%. Should this combination come to fruition, it would bring together the two streamers’ 6 million subscribers, creating the second largest live TV streaming service on the market, behind only YouTube TV, which amassed over 8 million subscribers early in 2024.

Reportedly, the deal between Disney and Fubo would not include any ownership of the on-demand arm of Hulu, but it is also not currently known whether the combined service would continue to be packaged with the Disney Bundle. According to a Bloomberg source, “The TV venture will continue to operate under two brands: Fubo and Hulu + Live TV.”

It is unclear whether that means that the two streamers will continue as independent platforms in the long term, but most mergers eventually result in a cost-cutting combination in order to eliminate redundancies. It would make sense if at some point the two services lived on the same tech stack.

Representatives for both Disney and Fubo did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment. The Streamable has also reached out to both sides and will provide updates when more information is available.

As part of the potential agreement, Fubo would drop its antitrust lawsuit filed in February of last year. In the suit, Fubo argued that the service — which would combine all of the channels owned by Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery that broadcast sports — was anti-competitive since those companies have never allowed other distributors to offer genre-specific bundles of the same kind.

If Fubo does in fact drop the suit, it could pave the way for the joint venture to move forward. While initially, the three companies had hoped to launch in August, they pivoted to hoping that an appeal of the injunction preventing launch would be lifted so that Venu could come to market this month in time for the college football and NFL playoffs. While Bloomberg’s sources did indicate that a deal between Disney and Fubo could be announced this week, there is not yet any indication when — or even if — Venu will eventually be available to customers.