Warner, Fox, Disney to Launch Streaming Sports Joint Venture

[Bruce]

Fox Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney are set to launch a new streaming joint venture that will make all of their sports programming available under a single broadband roof, a move that will put content from ESPN, TNT and Fox Sports on a new standalone app and, in the process, likely shake up the world of TV sports.

The three media giants are slated to launch the new service in the fall. Subscribers would get access to linear sports networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+, as well as hundreds of hours from the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL and many top college divisions. Pricing will be announced at a later date.

Ok, I have been hinting about this here for the last few months, about Fox Sports wanting to team up with someone to start streaming their sports content, here you go.

I was planning on retiring in May, but I really like having insider knowledge, also having health insurance I do not have to pay for, might stay on for another year.

Warner, Fox, Disney to Launch Streaming Sports Joint Venture

Warner Bros. Discovery, ESPN and Fox Sports will join together in a game-changing streaming outlet that will put all their sports offerings together

variety.com

 

[Ronnie-]

Im not surprised that each of those will be going streaming.

I am surprised they will all be going streaming TOGETHER. Thats pretty big news indeed.

 

[klang]

Sure glad I'm not into sports. My streaming costs are already through the roof.

 

[Bruce]

Sure glad I'm not into sports. My streaming costs are already through the roof.

Use credit card points to get gift cards for the services, that is what I do.

The only ones I pay real money for are MAX and Peacock.

 

[Bruce]

By the way, this news will probably piss off the likes of Cable/Satellite Providers, because this will help to hasten their ends.

 

[dishdude]

Just like they did with cable, they're finding a way to force you to buy a bunch of crap you don't want.

 

[Bruce]

Just like they did with cable, they're finding a way to force you to buy a bunch of crap you don't want.

I want this, College/NFL was the last reason why I hung onto paid Live TV.

 

[savarese04]

This is fantastic news; sad that there's no chance NBC will join because Universal considers itself too direct of a competition to Disney (they need to get over themselves - there's room for everyone at the table).

I doubt Paramount joins in at this point unless someone buys them. The won't even pony up the like 300k or whatever to join Movies Anywhere, which is the most short sighted thing ever.

 

[Yespage]

$50 or $60 a month?

 

[Don in CT]

So the question is are the leagues on board with this deal as it will undercut the network tv model. Can the NFL get as much from the big 4 if the future is all streaming.

 

[savarese04]

So the question is are the leagues on board with this deal as it will undercut the network tv model. Can the NFL get as much from the big 4 if the future is all streaming.

the leagues don't care. They take their money and it's up to you, the provider, to figure out how to coup/make money on those rights. If ESPN wants to pay 1B a year for the NBA, the NBA doesn't care if ESPN only shows it on the moon.

 

[Don in CT]

the leagues don't care. They take their money and it's up to you, the provider, to figure out how to coup/make money on those rights. If ESPN wants to pay 1B a year for the NBA, the NBA doesn't care if ESPN only shows it on the moon.

Will the league get that billion though. If they lose the network deals to streaming only will anyone be willing to over pay.

 

[Jimbo]

By the way, if you notice my first post, there is a hint in there about what this service might look like ( something familiar).

Subscribers would get access to linear sports networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+, as well as hundreds of hours from the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL and many top college divisions.

Can you turn these On and Off at Will ???

 

[savarese04]

what i am confused about is the subscription portion.

1) If i subscribe to these services individually (say ESPN+ and MAX/BR+), does that sub carry over to this new app?
2) if i don't subscribe outside the new app, can i just subscribe within the new app and, if i do, does that access also work to unlock the MAX app too?

basically, i'm wondering if its a hybrid of something like Prime Channels and provider access or if it's something completely different.

What happens if Disney/NBC put aside their beef and NBC decides to join? I imagine NBC just buys in and the equity stake just goes from 1/3 to 1/4?

 

[satjay]

A lot of hype on tv’s this morning as a “game changer” not sure what they hype is. I enjoy sports but all these sports on streaming platform does not excite me. But for those that are looking forward to this cheers!

 

[cpalmer2k]

This is a game changer for me for sure. I'm definitely kicking Spectrum to the curb soon anyway. I was just waiting until after March Madness. They're making changes and forcing TiVo users like me to quit using TiVo, so at some point in the not too distant future I would either have to rent their boxes, or drop the service anyway. The only reason I've kept the TiVo so long is I can easily record & save things to Blu-Ray discs if I want using the TiVo.

I was planning to sign up for YTTV, but if the price point on this service is attractive enough I would definitely sign up for it instead. I can easily get the big 4 networks over the air, but this fills the gaps for the rest.

 

[Mochuf]

$50 or $60 a month?

I'm thinking it will probably start at $40 and go up in price by $5 every year.
I might be able to afford this since I'm only paying $25/month for Philo. I'll be retiring at the end of the year, so I will have more time to watch 3 hour games. My work hours just don't allow me to start watching a game @ 8pm est.

 

[cpalmer2k]

With MAX and Paramount+ , that would get you all the games.

Tivo is on life support.

Still reading my emails which has some info about pricing and plans, should be $40 a month, so with Paramount+ with Showtime at $12, Peacock at $11, you would get all 4 Networks, Live Feeds, streaming exclusives, all the sports channels’ content except the RSN’s ( who are also on life support) the majority of cable channels’ content for $63 a month.

Then if you add things like MAX (HBO) at $20, that is only $83 then, a lot less then the average $120 a month Cable/Satellite bill would be, which does not even include HBO/Showtime as my pricing did.

Still being worked on, Bundle Pricing, what to do with ESPN+, Hulu, Hulu Live, BR+.

$40 is a good price point. Right now we are streaming service poor at our house as it is. We have Paramount+, Disney+, ESPN+, MAX (promo rate for 6 months), Hulu (bundled with the Disney stuff), Netflix and Peacock (picked up a $29 promo rate for a year prior to the Wild Card game last month) so pretty much all the other bases are covered with this factored in. Our renewals are coming up for most of these and I'm most likely going to look at some of the cheaper "ad" tiers instead of the ad free tiers.

The only thing I lose from Spectrum is the RSN's, and if Amazon does absorb them hopefully the Braves games would be available on there or I can always watch on a delay with MLB.TV if I really want them.

I assume this service will have some kind of DVR or VOD function for replaying games?

 

[Yespage]

$40 doesn't seem unreasonable, but the College Sports add-in as well as the revenue loss they are going to see from Cable/Sat make me think it'll need to be higher. Those companies will be (are?) furious. They'll be saying, you want to sell a la carte, so will we... like now. Who knows what the legal mumbo jumbo says and how that might complicate this.

They may want to sell for $40, but the trouble is going to be, they are about to lose revenue with cable/sat. I ponder if a DVR will be extra.

 

[Mochuf]

$40 doesn't seem unreasonable, but the College Sports add-in as well as the revenue loss they are going to see from Cable/Sat make me think it'll need to be higher. Those companies will be furious. They'll be saying, you want to sell a la carte, so will we.

They can't get too stupid with pricing. It is ala carte and people can chose not to buy.