We all guessed and guessed and guessed as to how much Venu — the upcoming standalone sports-centric streaming service from Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox — would cost. As it turns out, a lot of us were pretty close .
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Venu Sports will launch at $42.99 per month and offer a 7-day free trial. The price point for subscribers will be locked in for 12 months and a member can cancel at any time. As previously announced, Venu will launch in the U.S. in the fall.
The new platform is “targeted at sports fans outside the traditional pay TV bundle,” as a Thursday press release worded it. The companies in the joint venture has steadfastly emphasized that Venu is for cord-cutters and cord-nevers — they do not want to upset the traditional MVPDs (Multichannel Video Programming Distributor; cable providers, in basic terms) that carry their sports programming through linear packages. We’re not sure they’re buying it; we sure know that the other sports streamer, Fubo, who is suing the Venu companies , is not.
Venu boasts “thousands” of live sports events from “all the major professional sports leagues and top college conferences.” It will provide access to 14 live sports channels (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, and truTV) and a bunch of on-demand content (like ESPN’s excellent “30 for 30” documentary series) from Disney’s, Fox’s, and WBD’s individual libraries. Subscribers will also get ESPN+.
What they won’t get is the NBA package that Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT and Max lost out to Amazon Prime Video. You know, unless that lawsuit changes things.
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“With an impressive portfolio of sports programming, Venu will provide sports fans in the U.S. with a single destination for watching many of the most sought-after games and events,” Pete Distad, CEO of Venu Sports, said in a statement announcing the price point. “We’re building Venu from the ground up for fans who want seamless access to watch the sports they love, and we will launch at a compelling price point that will appeal to the cord cutter and cord never fans currently not served by existing pay TV packages.”
There is is again. As if the existence of an affordable, comprehensive live-sports streaming service will not accelerate cord cutting. (It will — especially if WBD is able to retain the NBA through its legal grievance.)
Some individual highlights that will be on Venu: golf’s PGA Championship as well as early rounds from the Masters Tournament, plenty of good NCAA Football (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, etc.) including the College Football Playoffs, the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, some UFC events, tennis’ Grand Slam (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open) tournaments, 700 Major League Baseball games including the World Series, 165 NBA games including the NBA Finals, 120 NFL games including two of the next three Super Bowls, a ton of NHL hockey, all three of horse-racing’s Triple Crown events, and more.
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