Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery call off Venu sports streaming service

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 internet TV bundler Fubo, which claimed the platform would be anticompetitive.

Together Disney, Fox and WBD control more than 50% of all U.S. sports media rights, and at least 60% of all nationally broadcast U.S. sports rights, according to the judge on the antitrust case.

The news that it would not launch came as a shock to Venu employees, who found out late Thursday night, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously to discuss internal matters. They believed they had a pathway forward to launch the service after Disney agreed earlier this week to merge its Hulu+ Live TV with Fubo, settling all litigation over Venu.

But the judge’s response in Fubo’s lawsuit questioned the legality of cable bundling in general, prompting Disney to strike the deal with Fubo, through which Disney would take 70% control of the resulting company. And two days ago, satellite providers DirecTV and Dish sent letters to federal court arguing that the legal questions brought up by the judge remained unanswered.

Rather than risk an extended lawsuit that could jeopardize bundling in general — including Disney’s efforts to bundle its own streaming entities (ESPN, Hulu and Disney+) — the three companies decided to pull the plug on Venu, according to the people familiar.

“DIRECTV remains a leader in sports and we look forward to working with our programming partners – including Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery – to compete on a level playing field to deliver sports fans more choice, control and value all in one experience” DirecTV said in a statement.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s business model relies heavily on negotiating bundled carriage agreements for its many cable networks, including CNN, TNT, HGTV and Food Network.

Disney is targeting a debut of ESPN “Flagship,” an all-inclusive ESPN streaming service, for August 2025. The still unnamed ESPN streaming service will including everything that airs on ESPN’s linear network, unlike ESPN+.

Disney’s deal with Fubo, along with the company’s recent carriage renewal with DirecTV, also gives the company new ways to package so-called skinny bundles — narrower selections of channels for less money. This was the idea behind Venu: selling a smaller number of linear channels for less money than traditional cable TV.

— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo contributed to this report.

Disclosure: Comcast, which owns CNBC parent NBCUniversal, is a co-owner of Hulu.