What Are the Biggest Unanswered Questions Surrounding the Joint Venture Sports Streamer from Disney, Fox, WBD?
More than a month after the new platform was announced, there are still precious few details about it available to the public.
Sports fans have had a little over a month to digest the news that Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery were planning to launch a new sports streaming platform this fall, which would include full livestreams of 14 total channels, as well as all the content from ESPN+. The announced joint venture has created plenty of news in that time, but there are still a ton of unanswered questions about it, and not much in the way of guidance from executives from the companies involved besides predictions of a slow start from Fox chief Lachlan Murdoch. Given that dearth of hard facts, The Streamable wants to try and answer as many questions about the platform as possible to give viewers some idea of what to expect.
- Disney, Fox, and WBD executives have a ton of work to do on the streaming service to get it launched by fall.
- Several facts point to the notion that the announcement of the platform came before Disney, Fox, and WBD were fully ready.
- NFL resistance to the service could be its ultimate downfall if the league digs in its heels hard enough.
Will The Platform Launch by Fall?
When the streamer was announced in a press release last month, the three companies involved targeted fall 2024 as its release date. But the fact that the streamer does not have a name, a confirmed subscription price, or even a concrete agreement between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery is raising doubt on whether that date is realistic. Front Office Sports reports the three companies are still working off a nonbinding terms sheet, which one sports attorney called nothing more than an “agreement to agree.”
What Will the Service Be Called?
Many outlets have taken to calling the platform “Spulu,” as it’s a sports streaming service patterned after the original structure of Hulu. Way back when Hulu launched in 2007, it was a JV between Disney, Fox, and Comcast, though Disney acquired Fox’s share in 2019 and is currently in the process of buying out Comcast. There’s an unlimited range of options on the table for the three companies to name their platform, and basically the only guarantee is that it won’t be called “Spulu” when it’s all said and done.
What Happens to ESPN+ When the JV Streamer Launches?
ESPN+ is a dynamic sports streaming platform with thousands of live events, but it has created confusion ever since it was created because it does not carry the full lineup of sports available on the ESPN family of linear channels. Now, its content will be available alongside the full complement of content on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, and ESPNEWS, adding a wide variety of new sports to the equation. Because of its $10.99 price point, as compared to the proposed platform’s likely cost of $40 to $50 per month, ESPN+ will probably continue as a standalone app once the JV streamer launches. Customers value the ability to choose between price points for streaming content, and keeping ESPN+ will allow Disney to provide many different sports streaming choices.
Will Max Still Offer the Bleacher Report Sports Add-On?
Just like Disney, WBD is likely to keep the Bleacher Report add-on for Max to offer multiple sports streaming options at varying price points. Max has been carrying all live sporting events from TNT, TBS, and truTV since October through the B/R Sports Add-On, which will eventually cost $9.99 per month on top of a Max subscription; originally the plan was to start charging for the additional sports content this month, that was pushed back indefinitely. WBD could eliminate the B/R add-on to try and drive fans to the higher-priced JV platform, but that seems unlikely for now.
Will Anyone Try to Join Fubo’s Lawsuit Against the Streamer?
There have been varying reactions from sports leagues and content distributors to the new joint venture platform, but the most virulent opposition has undoubtedly come from Fubo. The sports-forward live TV streaming service has filed a lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and WBD, alleging that their proposed streamer violates anti-trust laws. No other service has joined in, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see a company like DISH try to join the suit. DISH is losing pay-TV customers from the linear and streaming sides, and there’s no doubting the sports JV would be a threat to its remaining subscribers, both on the satellite and live streaming arms of the company with Sling TV.
Will This Smaller Channel Bundle Lead to Others?
There’s a good chance that if the JV streaming service is successful, it could lead to more slimmed-down channel bundles sold directly to consumers by channel owners. Financial success would be key, but if the streamer can show a profit quickly, it would go a long way toward convincing channel owners who have thus far been wary about working with each other to start bundling their networks themselves, instead of using pay-TV distributors as middle-men. As owners look for ways to keep revenue coming from their linear channels while customers leave cable at faster and faster rates, small channel bundles priced lower than a regular cable plan and themed around genres like movies, entertainment, or news could be highly successful.
Will JV Platform Drive Down the Price of ESPN’s Standalone Streamer?
Disney is still planning to create a new streaming service that will offer full streaming versions of the ESPN group of channels by 2025. Before the JV platform was announced, The Streamable predicted that a standalone ESPN platform would cost between $30 and $40 per month. But if the JV platform is coming in at around $40 or $50, it could mean that Disney has to lower the price of an ESPN-only service that will offer much less sports content in order to distinguish the two offerings. It will still have to cost more than the $10.99 per month of ESPN+, so there’s somewhat of a narrow price range for the ESPN standalone service.
How Hard Will the NFL Resist the Streamer?
Days after the JV streamer was announced, reports surfaced that the NFL was already looking for loopholes that would potentially allow it to keep its games off of the platform. If the league seeks injunctions or other legal delaying tactics that will keep its games off the service while a judgment is being considered, it could prove the ultimate death knell of the JV service. The platform is already suffering from the fact that it will not carry NFL games from CBS, NBC, or Prime Video, and if it ends up not carrying any NFL contests at all this year, it will be essentially impossible to convince customers to pay $50 per month for it.
Was the Announcement of the JV Platform Rushed?
The oddest thing about the service’s announcement was the fact that sports leagues and cable distributors were not informed of the development ahead of time.
One former executive from one of the companies involved told Front Office Sports, “They don’t have a contract. They don’t have a name. We don’t know who’ll run it. All they have is a press release. Somebody caught wind of this— and they all scrambled.”
If the streamer was announced early to avoid news of its development being leaked, it would certainly explain why so few details have been ironed out thus far, and why so many important partners weren’t clued in ahead of time. The joint venture doesn’t even have a CEO or management team of its own yet, further lending to the idea that the announcement of its existence came earlier than its creators intended.
Will the Streamer Lower the Cost of Live Sports Rights?
Some league officials suspect that the JV sports streamer is at least partially intended to allow the companies not to compete against each other for live sports rights. Leagues count on individual networks bidding against each other to raise the price of their broadcast rights, and three of the biggest media conglomerates having an active sports business together could lead to less competition between them for those rights. Leagues are not eager to accept less for their broadcast rights, as the price of player contracts and other team-related expenses are certainly not going to decrease in the future.
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