Fox confirms DTC launch after Venu Sports collapse – SportsPro

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Fox has confirmed it will launch a direct-to-consumer (DTC) proposition before the end of 2025 following the dissolution of the Venu Sports joint-venture earlier this year.
The company’s lack of a DTC service makes it a notable outlier in US broadcasting. NBC, CBS and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) all make their linear channels available via their respective streaming services, while ESPN is preparing to launch a full DTC service later this year.
However, Fox has previously expressed little desire to undermine the economics of the cable bundle given carriage fees and advertising revenues are a lucrative source of income for Fox, while it has also been wary of the significant content, technology and marketing investments made by rivals in streaming services that actively compete with pay-TV.
Nonetheless, with pay-TV subscriptions in the US continuing to fall, Fox has now decided that DTC can provide additional exposure and additional revenues by targeting households that have ditched or have never had cable or satellite the ability to access its programming.
Speaking to investors during the company’s second quarter earnings, Fox chief executive Lachlan Murdoch said the DTC service would be made up of live feeds and content from existing brands, such as Fox’s flagship network, its FS1 and FS2 sports channels, and Fox News, rather than through investment in original programming.
Murdoch added that Fox would not actively target customers already “within the bundle” and that more details about the as-yet-unnamed service in the “coming weeks and months”.
The comments, which are the first time the media giant has ever discussed a DTC strategy, come weeks after the collapse Venu Sports, which would have combined linear and digital services from ESPN, Fox, and WBD into a single application with a single subscription and without the need for cable. It hoped to target consumers unwilling to pay for a traditional pay-TV service which bundles sports channels with other services as part of a ‘take it or leave it bundle’.
Venu was due to go live in time for the 2024 National Football League (NFL) season last September, however the launch was postponed by legal challenges, which eventually curtailed its launch.
Fox’s rights portfolio includes the National Football League (NFL), Major League Baseball (MLB), Nascar and college football.
While other media giants spent billions creating streaming services designed to attract cord cutters, Fox decided to stick with the tried and trusted cable model that has served it so well for so many decades.
Although Fox’s main network is free-to-air (FTA), cable remains the predominant method with which viewers tune in, meaning it, along with its FS1 and FS2 pay-TV channels, remain hugely important to cable providers who are willing to stump up significant carriage fees.
While others have spent billions to gain a foothold in the streaming space, Fox has sat back and let the money roll in, waiting to see what will happen. Indeed, it was able to take advantage of the streaming rush by selling its film and television studios to Disney, which wanted to bolster its Disney+ offering, for US$71 billion.
Having kept its powder dry for so long, Fox knew there would be a time when it would have to act. The number of pay-TV households continues to decline and ESPN’s DTC launch will act as a further catalyst, affecting Fox’s carriage fees.
With audiences splintering and the cost of premium live sports rights increasing, Fox knows it needs to be on as many screens as possible to maximise distribution and advertising income – especially if the pay-TV household decline plateaus and streaming complements rather than cannibalises cable revenues.
Fox had hoped Venu Sports would be the answer but it now has to go it alone. However this gives Fox the opportunity to do things its own way, which means no huge additional expenses for the company and potentially a more affordable product for consumers accustomed to ever-increasing subscription costs with other providers.
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