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ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery Forming Joint Venture to Launch Streaming Sports Service in the U.S. - The Walt Disney Company
ESPN, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery have reached an understanding on principal terms to form a new Joint Venture (JV) to build an innovative new platform to house a compelling streaming sports service.
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In Major Team-Up, Disney, Warners and Fox Plan Sports Streaming Platform Combining Coverage
The new service, which will have its own management team, will offer streams of channels including ESPN, FS1, ABC, Fox, TNT and TBS.
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Murdoch said the companies will get paid on a per-subscriber basis and he does not have any concerns about regulatory hurdles about the joint venture.
The addressable market for the new venture is expected to be between 50 million and 60 million, Murdoch said, adding it is half of the television households in the United States which will be open to taking this new package.
The new entity will be jointly owned by the three media companies, with equal board representation, and agree to license their sports content on a non-exclusive basis, Reuters reported last month, as media companies are betting on the sports-streaming service to drive subscriptions.
Pricing for the service — which would have rights to the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and college competitions — could be higher than what people have talked about, Murdoch added.
CNBC reported in February the yet-to-be-named service is expected to be priced at above $40 per month, adding the firms have identified an executive who would be named at a later date.
As Iger emphasized, Disney is a complex company to run with its business spanning across experience parks, cruise ships, movies, TV and streaming. It is also stepping in the gaming universe as it unveiled in February it will be investing $1.5 billion in “Fortnite” developer Epic Games. With this strategic partnership, Disney will be making its own gaming universe.
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/fox-disney-warner-bros-discovery-sports-venture-expects-5-mln-subscribers-five-2024-03-04/

Disney Streaming Sports Review

The untitled streaming platform will offer live linear channels like ESPN, ABC, Fox, TNT and TBS, and games and other sports rights from all three media giants on a nonexclusive basis (meaning they will still be able to launch their own offerings). The service will be available directly to consumers, but will also be available as a bundle with WBD’s Max, Disney’s ESPN+ and Hulu. Pricing is still TBD, but it is expected to launch in the fall, in time for the NFL season.

The three companies will each own one-third of the new venture, which will have its own brand and independent management team. The deal is contingent on the parties coming to terms on a final agreement, though they have one in principle.

Notably, NBCUniversal and Paramount are not part of the new venture. NBC has Sunday Night Football NFL rights, college rights, as well as the Olympics, while Paramount’s CBS Sports has Sunday afternoon NFL games, live soccer and other college rights.

A source says that the new venture, while a major step forward, is not expected to impact ESPN’s plans to offer a direct-to-consumer “flagship” ESPN streaming service, but is meant to complement it. In some ways, the new venture is closer to something like a “skinny bundle” of streaming networks, one that is focused exclusively on channels with live sports, rather than entertainment.

The deal would create a streaming sports behemoth, with rights to the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football and NCAA March Madness basketball, the FIFA World Cup, three of the four Grand Slam tennis events, the UFC, Formula 1 and NASCAR.

It is also significant in that it will be the first time that Fox’s live sports are available in a streaming offering. Right now, in order to access Fox’s NFL, MLB or college sports rights, consumers would have to subscribe to cable TV or a virtual MVPD like YouTube TV.

Right now, Disney’s ESPN offers the ESPN+ streaming service with its own set of rights (and some simulcasts), but is planning a broader streaming version of the flagship ESPN product. WBD, meanwhile, includes its live sports in Max under the B/R Sports brand, and will flip that into a premium add-on in the coming months.

“At WBD, our ambition is always to connect our leading content and brands with as many viewers as possible, and this exciting joint venture and the unparalleled combination of marquee sports rights and access to the greatest sporting events in the world allows us to do just that,” WBD CEO David Zaslav added. “This new sports service exemplifies our ability as an industry to drive innovation and provide consumers with more choice, enjoyment and value and we’re thrilled to deliver it to sports fans.

“The launch of this new streaming sports service is a significant moment for Disney and ESPN, a major win for sports fans, and an important step forward for the media business,” Iger said in a statement. “This means the full suite of ESPN channels will be available to consumers alongside the sports programming of other industry leaders as part of a differentiated sports-centric service. I’m grateful to Jimmy Pitaro and the team at ESPN, who are at the forefront of innovating on behalf of consumers to create new offerings with more choice and greater value.”

“We’re pumped to bring the Fox Sports portfolio to this new and exciting platform,” Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch added. “We believe the service will provide passionate fans outside of the traditional bundle an array of amazing sports content all in one place.”

The deal would create a streaming sports behemoth, with rights to the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, college football and NCAA March Madness basketball, the FIFA World Cup, three of the four Grand Slam tennis events, the UFC, Formula 1 and NASCAR.

It is also significant in that it will be the first time that Fox’s live sports are available in a streaming offering. Right now, in order to access Fox’s NFL, MLB or college sports rights, consumers would have to subscribe to cable TV or a virtual MVPD like YouTube TV.

Right now, Disney’s ESPN offers the ESPN+ streaming service with its own set of rights (and some simulcasts), but is planning a broader streaming version of the flagship ESPN product. WBD, meanwhile, includes its live sports in Max under the B/R Sports brand, and will flip that into a premium add-on in the coming months.

The three companies will each own one-third of the new venture, which will have its own brand and independent management team. The deal is contingent on the parties coming to terms on a final agreement, though they have one in principle.

Notably, NBCUniversal and Paramount are not part of the new venture. NBC has Sunday Night Football NFL rights, college rights, as well as the Olympics, while Paramount’s CBS Sports has Sunday afternoon NFL games, live soccer and other college rights.

A source says that the new venture, while a major step forward, is not expected to impact ESPN’s plans to offer a direct-to-consumer “flagship” ESPN streaming service, but is meant to complement it. In some ways, the new venture is closer to something like a “skinny bundle” of streaming networks, one that is focused exclusively on channels with live sports, rather than entertainment.