Venu Sports: Newly launched sports streaming service, likened to “Hulu for sports”

As many of you know, a new sports streaming service is being developed by a joint venture between ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. The service is expected to launch later this year, and we now know its official name: Venu Sports.

Several months after announcing a “specialized sports service,” three US telecommunications giants have officially teamed up to bring viewers a solution to the growing sports TV copyright mess. increase.

The reason for this partnership couldn’t be simpler: Sports rights prices are skyrocketing, while being divided among countless different broadcasters and streaming services. It is extremely inconvenient and expensive for viewers to have to subscribe to many different services to follow their favorite team or sport.

Initially, industry insiders called the service Hulu For Sports, or Spulu for short. The official name – I think it’s pronounced like “venue”, only the spelling is easier to trademark and certainly the .com domain is easier to buy – sounds better probably “Spulu”. Venu Sports aims to provide sports fans with a single location to watch all the sports they love.

The combination of Fox, ESPN and Warner Bros. Takes a huge chunk of sports rights: Venu will likely get access to all of ESPN and ESPN Plus content, plus ABC, Fox, Fox Sports, TNT, TBS and everything you can find on Max via Bleacher Report. However, without partners like Paramount and NBC on board, the service will lack major events like this summer’s Olympics and most NFL games.

Venu herself still has many things we don’t know. How much will it cost? What will the interface look like? Will it compete for broadcasting rights on its own or rely solely on existing agreements with its owners? Will it pass government censorship and be allowed to launch? How does this change Disney’s plans to bring ESPN to Disney Plus or launch a streaming-only version of ESPN next year?

There have been questions about the three companies’ ability to find the right deal for all parties, and those questions won’t go away even with Venu’s launch. Even Venu’s press release today acknowledged that “the establishment and launch of the new service is subject to regulatory approvals and the completion of definitive agreements between the parties.” The service appears to be on track to launch this fall, but isn’t quite there yet.

At a time when the streaming industry is returning to a cable-like model, sports is becoming more complex. I mean, Netflix also has football games this year. Things will get worse before they get better. But it might get a little better this fall.