Sports-focused streaming television company Venu Sports will launch its streaming service at an initial price of $43 per month, executives at the company affirmed on Thursday.
The price falls on the lower end of the $40 to $50 per month estimate offered by analysts and streaming media experts, though the designation of the cost as a “launch price” suggests it could increase at some point in the near future.
The service is being developed as part of a joint venture between Fox Corporation, the Walt Disney Company’s ESPN and Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD) TNT Sports. It will offer most local broadcast stations affiliated with Fox and ABC, along with sports-inclusive cable channels like TBS, TNT, Tru TV, FS1, FS2 and ESPN. Subscribers will also get access to ESPN Plus as part of their service.
What makes Venu Sports unique is that the carriage agreements with the three broadcasters allow it to exclude non-sports channels like FX, Freeform, National Geographic, CNN, Fox News Channel and the Cartoon Network — unlike cable and satellite agreements, which typically require the carriage of sports and non-sports channels alike. The arrangement is the main focus of a lawsuit brought by streaming service Fubo, which argues the broadcasters are engaging in anticompetitive behavior that favors their streaming service over other multi-channel distributors.
Still, Venu Sports is plowing ahead with its service. It is expected to launch later this month, timed to coincide close to the start of the National Football League’s (NFL) professional season, which begins in early September.
“With an impressive portfolio of sports programming, Venu will provide sports fans in the U.S. with a single destination for watching many of the most sought-after games and events,” said Venu Sports CEO Pete Distad. “We’re building Venu from the ground up for fans who want seamless access to watch the sports they love, and we will launch at a compelling price point that will appeal to the cord cutter and cord never fans currently not served by existing pay TV packages.”
The service will offer a seven-day free trial to all customers when it launches later this month.
