Fubo swaps CEOs; are big changes coming?
Fubo swaps CEOs; are big changes coming?
Disney is putting a longtime Disney+ veteran in charge of Fubo. What changes could be in store for the live TV streamer?
When it was first announced that Disney was purchasing Fubo and moving the sports-focused live TV streaming service under the same umbrella as Hulu + Live TV, the company made it clear that it intended to keep the platforms separate and would leave Fubo’s executive team in charge. After completion of the deal, Disney kept that promise, as Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler stayed in his position for months, guiding the streamer under new ownership.
However, the winds of change have blown through Fubo. The streamer has announced that, as of July 10, Gandler has vacated the top chair and will be replaced in the role by Alisa Bowen, one of the founding members of Disney’s streaming leadership team who helped to launch Disney+ and ESPN+. But what does the changeover mean for the future of Fubo and its loyal subscribers?
The sudden switch from Gandler to Bowen could be an indication that Gandler’s well-documented cavalier management style was clashing with Disney’s corporate culture. Reporting from Deadline cites one industry source who said that Gandler didn’t agree with his perception of Disney’s vision for its live TV streaming services.
“The Disney culture didn’t match,” the source told Deadline. “David was frustrated with what seemed to be Disney’s almost intention to not grow the vMVPD business.”
Bowen didn’t offer many hints about her plans for Fubo in the future, but she did mention her desire to “deliver even greater value to Fubo and Hulu + Live TV subscribers.”
That in itself could be one hint about the streamer’s future intentions; I would be quite surprised if Fubo didn’t add Disney+ and Hulu to Fubo plans in the near future. Fubo already offers ESPN Unlimited subscriptions with its channel packages, and bringing Disney’s entertainment streamers into the mix will boost engagement on those services and enhance the perceived value of a Fubo subscription. Bowen saw firsthand how effective the Disney Bundle was at keeping viewers from canceling when it first launched, and I think she’s quite likely to apply the lesson to Fubo now that she’s in charge.
Disney+ and Hulu have taken huge steps toward operating on the same platform in the past year, emphasizing the need to have as much content available on a single app as possible. To that end, I can see Bowen making renewed efforts to make a new carriage deal to offer TNT, TBS, and truTV, which have been unavailable on Fubo for years. The absence of these channels leaves Fubo customers with no way to watch the MLB, NHL, NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and other games broadcast on those channels. Perhaps the removal of Gandler from negotiations will help move the two sides closer to a deal, as well.
I also see more integrations of Fubo into the Disney commerce flow coming. Customers can now purchase Hulu + Live TV plans from the Fubo homepage, but I think that’s just the beginning. Disney+ already offers a selection of sporting events from ESPN, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Fubo-branded content on the platform, as well. Of course, Disney+ cannot stream cable channels distributed by Fubo without making separate deals with those channels’ owners, but the service could potentially add the Fubo Sports Network free streaming channel to its around-the-clock linear channel Streams options.
Could Fubo follow the lead of fellow live TV streamers DIRECTV and YouTube in launching a new wave of genre-based channel plans? I’m split on this question. On one hand, Bowen was a key factor in seeking out bundle opportunities for Disney+ and Hulu with services outside the Disney corporate umbrella. The streamers can now be bundled with HBO Max, with a number of other on-demand services in the Xfinity StreamStore, alongside DIRECTV channel packages, and elsewhere.
Clearly, Bowen sees value in giving customers as many different content combinations as possible, as long as those combinations include Disney streaming properties. That philosophy could translate to Fubo; giving viewers more choices to watch Fubo programming at different price points could meaningfully boost the streamer’s subscriber totals.
On the other hand, there’s evidence that Disney doesn’t think of its live TV streaming arm as being a critical component to develop further. The company hasn’t made any effort to launch genre-based channel packages for Hulu + Live TV, and as the industry source told Deadline, Gandler himself was unsatisfied with Disney’s vision for the future of its live TV services. It may be that the House of Mouse sees Fubo and Hulu + Live TV as nothing more than convenient revenue streams that can help it gather whatever money is left to be made in the pay-TV business before it collapses completely.
The change of CEOs at a streaming service is always going to spur speculation, but there’s likely no cause for concern that Bowen’s appointment means the immediate end of Fubo. She’s a seasoned streaming executive and will have a clear plan for the service coming into the job. What that plan will be, and how it unfurls over the next few years, will bear watching, but The Streamable will be here to keep Fubo subscribers updated on all the forthcoming changes.
Fubo
Fubo is a live TV streaming service offering a robust lineup of approximately 150 premier channels, with plans starting at $63.99 per month. This entry-level package provides access to local broadcast affiliates 18 of the leading 35 cable channels channels, and valuable regional sports networks (RSNs).