Everything We Know About Venu Sports: Price, Availability, More
There’s still plenty we don’t know about Venu Sports, but The Streamable will compare current live TV streaming services to see if we can’t make a few predicitons.
Update: Venu's launch has been blocked by a preliminary injunction.
At long last, it’s time to put the overused portmanteau “Spulu” (Sports-Hulu) to bed. That’s the term analysts had adopted for the joint venture sports streaming service that Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery have joined to create, as a way to reference its divided ownership structure, which is similar to Hulu’s original setup. But the three companies involved in the JV have finally decided to release its actual name: Venu Sports. There’s no more need to speculate on the platform’s moniker, but there is still plenty we don’t know about Venu. How much will it cost? How many simultaneous streams will be allowed? Will the platform offer live events in 4K? The Streamable’s experts will attempt to answer these questions with our best predictions as the fall release of Venu Sports creeps closer.
The Most Important Info on Venu Sports:
How Much Will Venu Sports Cost?
When Venu Sports was first announced in February, one of the first questions in the minds of fans was about the price of the streamer. As TV and streaming costs continue to rise, viewers have grown wary of yet another platform that they would have to add to their monthly bills to watch all the sports they want to see.
Of course, Venu Sports could negate the need to subscribe to other streaming platforms, though it won’t have every piece of sports content available. Initial speculation centered on a price of between $40 and $50 per month, and in early March Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the cost would likely be in the “higher range of estimates.” That confirmed in the minds of many analysts that customers could expect to pay a price approaching $50 monthly for Venu Sports, which is The Streamable’s official prediction.
However, the streamer has confirmed that at launch, the price for the service will be $42.99 per month. Any customer who signs up for the service at that rate will be able to keep that price, regardless of rate hikes, for 12 full months following the start of their subscription. That would seem to indicate that the introductory price will only be available for a limited time, though Venu has not specified how long sports fans have to take advantage of the deal.
Venu Sports Launch Price: $42.99 per month
When is Venu Sports Launching?
This question wasn’t answered until August, before which time all viewers were given was a vague pledge that it would be available at some point during the fall. Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch let slip during his company’s quarterly earnings conference call during the first full week of August that Venu would launch before the end of August, and court proceedings in Fubo’s antitrust lawsuit from that same week confirmed the timeline.
Fubo is seeking a preliminary injunction against Venu that will prevent the service from launching at all if granted. The possibility now exists that a ruling on that injunction won’t come before Venu is put on the market for consumers, and if that happens viewers could see their access to the service restricted if the judge in the case decides to grant the injunction after Venu is launched.
Venu launch date: On or before Aug. 31
Will Venu Sports Offer DVR?
DVR is an essential feature of live TV streamers. It allows viewers to record live programs to watch on their own schedules, and having the ability to tape live sporting events for future viewing is essentially a must-have feature for fans these days.
While Venu Sports has not officially confirmed the inclusion of a DVR in the forthcoming platform, LowPass is reporting that based on a publicly available in-progress version of the web-based app, there will be a DVR included when the platform launches in fall 2024.
All six of the top live TV streaming services on the market offer Cloud DVR as a feature of their subscription, and it is highly likely that Venu Sports will as well. Since DIRECTV STREAM, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and even the skinny channel bundle Philo offer unlimited Cloud DVR, we’ll predict that Venu will do so as well.
So, viewers will likely be able to store an unlimited number of hours of recorded content on Venu’s cloud DVR for anywhere from six to nine months.
Will Venu Sports Will Offer Unlimited Cloud DVR: Reportedly
How Many Simultaneous Streams Will Venu Sports Allow?
There are really two parts to this question; how many in-home streams will Venu Sports allow, and how many out-of-home streams will be permitted? Among the top live TV services, only Sling TV restricts simultaneous streams to one. Most other services allow viewers to pay to upgrade the number of concurrent streams they have, but they all allow at least two or more in-home viewers at once. DIRECTV STREAM allows the most, and can be used on up to 20 devices on the home network simultaneously. Disney’s live TV streamer Hulu + Live TV allows for up to two simultaneous streams in the home — with an option to add more — but we’re betting that sports fans will want more, and Venu will likely accommodate them, potentially upping the total to five.
DIRECTV STREAM allows for up to three simultaneous streams outside the home, but Venu Sports is unlikely to allow accounts to be shared between households. Disney and WBD have both pledged to roll out password-sharing restrictions by the end of 2024 on their on-demand streamers, and they’re unlikely to reverse that policy for Venu Sports, even with the service’s higher price.
Prediction for How Many In-Home Streams Venu Sports Will Allow: 5
Prediction for Whether Venu Sports Will Be Shareable Outside the Home: No
Will Games Be Available On-Demand Once They’re Finished Playing Live?
It’s not immediately clear what kind of approval the companies involved in Venu Sports would have to seek from top leagues to offer on-demand replays of games, but it’s another feature that could be part of the platform when it launches. It’s another way for fans to watch games on their own schedules, which can be especially helpful for streaming games with late-night start times. When Fox broadcast the 2022 World Cup from Qatar, it made the games available on its free streaming service Tubi after they aired on linear channels.
Many sports platforms like NBA League Pass and NFL+ already provide the ability to stream finished games on-demand, but those are streamers owned by their respective leagues. If Venu Sports is able to offer on-demand games, it is likely that they will only be available for a limited time, however, at this point, it appears unlikely to be a part of the service’s initial launch.
Prediction for Whether Venu Sports Will Offer On-Demand Game Replays: No
Will Venu Sports Offer a Multiview Feature?
Multiview is a very popular feature among sports fans because it negates the need to pick and choose when two or more games are on at the same time. Multiview lets customers stream up to four games simultaneously, a feature that will come in handy considering how many individual games across major sports leagues that Venu will carry.
While it has not been officially confirmed by the platform, it has been reported that a Multiview function has been included in an early versions of the service.
YouTube TV has made some key enhancements to its multiview function since launching it in 2023, and Fubo also includes a multiview ability on Apple TV devices as well. ESPN’s app has rolled out multiview on Apple TV and Xbox devices, so Disney has some experience with the feature as well. That’s ample evidence in The Streamable’s view to prognosticate that Venu will offer a multiview function.
Prediction for Whether Venu Sports Have Multiview: Yes
Will Venu Sports Carry Events in 4K?
Ultra-High-Definition 4K offers the best screen resolution widely available to consumers. UHD 4K TVs have 3,840 horizontal pixels and 2,160 vertical pixels, creating brighter pictures, deeper colors, more brilliant contrasts, and a superior viewing experience overall.
Live sports can so often become a game of inches, so having the clearest display possible to see NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB games on Venu Sports will be key. Broadcasting in 4K technology is tricky, however; only Fox regularly provides live events in 4K, and these are upscaled 1080p broadcasts. Among current live TV services, DIRECTV STREAM and Fubo carry some 4K content; YouTube TV does as well, but viewers have to pay $9.99 per month extra to watch in 4K.
Given that Fox has experience in providing sports games in 4K, we predict that Venu Sports will offer 4K games, though it may take the streamer a bit longer to implement them after it launches because of the technical updates necessary to offer 4K resolution.
Prediction for Whether Venu Sports Provide 4K Livestreams: Yes
Which Channels Will Venu Offer?
Venu will offer offer access to 14 linear sports networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, TNT, TBS, truTV, as well as ESPN+.
The Streamable confirmed with the three companies in February that full livestreams of these channels would be included in Venu, not just the sports titles appearing on those channels. But that might have changed in the interim; in the pricing announcement press release, Venu said that programming would be “packaged around three key pillars of content in the service: extensive live games and event coverage, iconic studio shows and pre/post-game programming, and a robust library of on-demand sports content, which could suggest that programming outside these categories won’t be available on the service.
Venu Sports
Venu Sports is the planned live TV streaming service offering sports from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, and truTV. Programming from ESPN+ and on-demand content will also be available. Users will be able to watch NFL, NBA, MLB, and NCAA games. Subscribers can bundle the product with Disney+, Hulu, or Max. Venu’s launch is on hold thanks to a preliminary injunction.