An advertisement for Venu Sports, the sports streaming venture by Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox, hangs at the Fanatics Fest event in New York City on Aug. 16, 2024.
Jessica Golden | CNBC
Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery have called off plans to launch their sports streaming service Venu, the companies said in a joint statement Friday.
“After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service,” they said in the statement. “In an ever-changing marketplace, we determined that it was best to meet the evolving demands of sports fans by focusing on existing products and distribution channels. We are proud of the work that has been done on Venu to date and grateful to the Venu staff, whom we will support through this transition period.”
Venu was first announced in February and intended to combine the live sports assets of Fox, WBD and Disney-owned ESPN. It was initially slated to launch before the start of the NFL season in September, but was delayed in part by a legal challenge from streamer Fubo, which claimed the platform would be anticompetitive.
That litigation was settled earlier this week as part of a deal between Disney and Fubo to combine the media giant’s Hulu+ Live TV with Fubo’s internet TV bundle.
Fubo stock popped about 5% in premarket trading Friday. Shares had surged 250% on Monday after the Disney deal was announced.
— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo contributed to this report.
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