Entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. and streaming provider FuboTV agreed Monday to merge their live TV operations online.
The deal would combine Hulu + Live and FuboTV, a sports-heavy channel, and pave the way for the launch of Sports sitea streaming venture of Disney’s ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox.
Venu Sports was originally scheduled to launch this fall, but was delayed by a antitrust lawsuit filed by Fubo. In August, a judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the new sports streaming service, ruling that it could “Destroying competition and inflating prices for consumers.” Hearings in the case were scheduled to begin Monday.
Disney, Fox and Warner agreed to pay $220 million to Fubo to resolve the legal dispute. Disney also announced it would provide a $145 million term loan to Fubo in 2026.
If the deal passes regulatory review, what would the Hulu + Live and FuboTV tie-up mean for sports fans? More choice and more complexity.
What the Hulu + Live and FuboTV deal would mean for sports fans
The combined entity, which would be 70% owned by Disney, does not yet have a name. It reportedly has more than 6 million subscribers, making it the second all-digital television service after YouTube TV.
On the one hand, the deal would give sports fans more options for watching live sports.
As part of the deal, Fubo would be able to create a new sports and streaming service with several Disney networks as well as its ESPN+ streaming service. Consumers could still subscribe to Hulu + Live TV and Fubo separately.
ESPN also plans to launch a standalone ESPN streaming service, Flagship, later this year.
What about ESPN and Venu Sports?
Venu Sports said in August that its service would cost $43 per month and offers some of the most-watched live sports on TV, including the NBA, Major League Baseball, NFL and college teams – significantly cheaper than a traditional cable package, which can cost $100 per month or more. Sports fans could bundle Venu Sports with other services like Disney+, Hulu or Max.
What’s coming? More choice and complexity
With the Hulu + Live and Fubo tie-up, sports fans would have more choices but would still have to navigate a highly fragmented market due to high-stakes competition for sports rights.
Sports dominate the most-watched programs on television, so all players in the traditional and digital television space are competing for the rights to broadcast NFL games and other leagues in order to increase the audience. That means games are scattered across broadcast channels, cable and the Internet, creating a confusing jumble for sports fans.
“Are consumers running out of options? No, but what consumers really want does not exist on the market and never will. They want one service to get them all the sports content possible. This will not happen,” said Dan Rayburna streaming media industry analyst.
Will you have to pay more to stream live sports?
The Hulu+Live and Fubo deal could provide more options for putting together TV programming, but the cost of watching live sports continues to rise. Would this deal make things better or worse?
Rayburn said that’s not yet clear. The bottom line: Higher subscription costs and frequent price increases have become an unfortunate reality streaming lifetesting consumer loyalty.
Whether or not the deal goes through, consumers are unlikely to get any relief from ever-increasing monthly subscription fees, which can reach hundreds of dollars.
“Every streaming service has raised their prices multiple times since launching their services, whether on-demand or live, and that will continue,” Rayburn said.
Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester, said consumers should prepare for higher costs “as they consolidate their TV programming piecemeal.”
Additionally, Proulx expects more transactions in 2025 “as the television distribution model shifts to a primarily online distribution mode.”