A week short of a year since a federal judge derailed their plans to launch a skinny streaming bundle based on respective linear sports channels, Fox and Disney have come up with a new live sports packaging plan.
Starting on Oct. 2, the new Fox One and ESPN subscription streaming services will be available in a $39.99 per month bundle, which is about $10 off the combined standalone pricing.
Ahead of the bundled offer, both streaming services are set to launch individually on August 21, marking their respective standalone debuts.
Priced at $29.99 a month, the new streaming ESPN will deliver live games and coverage for the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, college football and basketball, NASCAR, INDYCAR, UFC and the upcoming FIFA World Cup. Unlike the far leaner ESPN+ offering, Disney is billing its new offering as “all of ESPN, all in one place.”
Fox One, meanwhile, will be priced at $19.99 a month and include Fox Corp.’s spectrum of news channels, entertainment networks and lots of sports — Fox Sports, FS1, FS2, the Big Ten Network, Fox Deportes and the Fox Broadcast Network are all included. Fox also has rights to major-league sports including the NFL and MLB.
Fox is taking a “modest” approach to Fox One — it has no exclusive programming, for example — careful not to rock the boat of a linear pay TV ecosystem it happens to still be thriving in. Fox One merely provides a way to reach cord-cutters and cord-nevers, the company insists.
“Working with Fox One on this bundle offer allows us to bring ESPN’s world-class sports content to even more fans in a seamless and innovative way,” said Sean Breen, executive VP of Disney Platform Distribution, in a statement. “This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to delivering premium experiences across platforms and meeting consumers where they are — anytime, anywhere.”
Added Tony Billeted, senior VP of strategy and business development for Fox Direct to Consumer: “Announcing ESPN as our first bundle partner is evidence of our desire to deliver the best possible value and viewing experience to our shared customers.”
It’s not quite Venu Sports, which was set to debut last fall with a $43-a-month price point, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery channels in its bundle, before a federal judge slapped an injunction on the joint venture amid an antitrust lawsuit brought on by Fubo.
But a lot has changed in 51 weeks.
For starters, the Venu JV partners, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, settled the antitrust suit with Fubo and dissolved the Venu venture. The end of litigation included an agreement for Fubo to merge with Disney’s competing virtual pay TV operator Hulu + Live TV, with Disney taking control with a 70% ownership stake in the combined entity. DirecTV, which was a backer of Fubo in the case, was also soothed when the JV partners allowed the company far more flexibility in the way it packages programming bundles, particularly around sports. In fact, this sea change provided the foundation of DirecTV’s “genre-based” My Sports and My Entertainment bundles.
Meanwhile, WBD did not renew an NBA rights deal, putting it on the margins of the live sports programming business.