The upcoming sports streaming partnership among Disney's ESPN (DIS), Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), and Fox (FOXA) officially has a name: Venu Sports.
The streaming service, announced in February, is set to debut sometime this fall and comes as media companies face increased pressure from investors to scale their platforms and achieve profitability.
Venu Sports will bring together the three companies' respective slates of sports networks. Collectively, the new service encompasses about 55% of US sports rights, according to Citi Research.
“We are excited to officially introduce Venu Sports, a brand that we feel captures the spirit of an all-new streaming home where sports fans outside of the traditional pay TV eco-system can experience an incredible collection of live sports, all in one place,” Venu Sports CEO Pete Distad said in a news release on Thursday. Distad is a former Apple and Hulu executive.
According to the platform, the service will be made available directly to consumers via a new app. Subscribers will also have the ability to bundle the product with Disney+, Hulu, or Max.
In March, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch said the service will be priced on the higher end of estimates, with subscribers expected to hit around 5 million by 2029.
Wall Street has estimated the price point will come in between $40 and $50 a month. The companies have yet to reveal when they will release exact pricing information.
Still, a few risks have circled the platform ahead of its launch.
One includes possible antitrust regulation after sports streamer FuboTV (FUBO) filed a lawsuit against the media giants behind the JV citing "the extreme suppression of competition in the US sports-focused streaming market."
In the news release, the companies said, "The formation and launch of the new service is subject to regulatory approval and the finalization of definitive agreements amongst the parties."
Another overhang includes the possibility that Warner Bros. Discovery is at risk of losing a key media rights deal with the National Basketball Association.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Comcast's NBCUniversal (CMCSA) is working on a $2.5 billion bid that could move the league off Warner Bros.' TNT network. Wall Street analysts say that could impact the viability of the soon-to-launch platform.
"If WBD is to add value to [the sports streaming venture] it will need to retain NBA rights," eMarketer senior analyst Ross Benes wrote to Yahoo Finance. "Without NBA rights, WBD will become a weak third leg on the sports JV tricycle, and it won’t have the leverage to sustain or grow its retransmission fees."
Correction: A previous version of this article listed an incorrect first name for Pete Distad. We regret the error.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at [email protected].
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