Disney, WBD, Fox pull plug on Venu Sports streaming service before launch

Venu Sports, the joint streaming service from Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox Corp., and Disney, will be discontinued before it even launched, the trio announced in a surprise decision Friday morning.

Venu Sports, the joint streaming service from Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox Corp., and Disney, will be discontinued before it even launched, the trio announced in a surprise decision Friday morning. The decision, made collectively by WBD, Fox, and Disney, is effective immediately. “After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service,” the trio said in a joint press release. “In an ever-changing marketplace, we determined that it was best to meet the evolving demands of sports fans by focusing on existing products and distribution channels.” The decision to terminate Venu comes four days after Disney announced its Hulu + Live TV service would merge with Fubo, ending the latter’s lawsuit that had for months hampered the fraught sports streaming venture’s launch. While Disney’s Fubo deal would have likely paved the way for the sports streamer’s launch, reports emerged on Thursday that DirecTV and Dish had likewise asked a judge to reconsider dismissing Fubo’s case, signaling further delays in Venu’s launch. This is a breaking news report and will be updated.