Venu Sports, a streaming service created by Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, is expected to launch in the fall and will cost $42.99, the companies announced Thursday.
Media companies announced the service in February as a bundle of rights to the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, college sports and the FIFA World Cup, as well as 14 live sports channels, in an effort to attract younger viewers who don’t have cable or have cut their subscriptions.
Venu CEO Pete Distad said in a statement that it is “the only place to watch many of the most popular games and events.”
The service will include major events such as the NBA Finals, World Series, Stanley Cup Final, College Football Playoffs, March Madness, parts of golf’s Masters Tournament, tennis’ Grand Slams and two of the next three Super Bowls, as well as on-demand programming from the archives of ESPN+ and other sports networks.
Overall, Venu will account for more than half of the sports broadcasting rights, Citi analysis cited. The Wall Street Journal.
That price may seem steep to those who already subscribe to streaming services like Peacock, Paramount, Prime Video and Apple TV, all of which offer a wide range of live sports content.
Still, Venu is significantly cheaper than the $100+ a month cable TV subscription or the $73 a month subscription to YouTube TV, though both of those options offer sports programming from NBC and CBS, which also broadcast rare NFL games.
Venu will offer a seven-day free trial at launch, and customers who sign up at the initial price will be able to continue streaming at that price for 12 months.
Distad, the former Apple executive, said the service aims to attract 5 million subscribers in its first five years.
“We’re building Venu from the ground up for fans who want a seamless experience watching their favorite sports, and we’ll launch it at a competitive price point that will appeal to cord-cutters and cord-never fans not served by existing pay-TV packages,” Distad said.
The service will be available directly through the new app, and subscribers can choose to bundle the service with Disney+, Hulu, or Max.
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