Disney and Fubo have announced a deal that would combine Fubo and Hulu + Live TV into a partially independent company. The announcement comes after Fubo was suing Disney and blocked the launch of Venu Sports.
Disney, Warner Bros. Discover, and Fox Corp (not the part of Fox that Disney bought) announced aVenu Sportsstreaming service in 2024 that would combine all three companies’ live and on-demand sports content. Fubo TV, a streaming service primarily targeted at sports streaming,immediately filed a lawsuitto block Venu’s launch. Fubo alleged it couldn’t create a similar TV package, as media companies usually block TV providers from offering sports without additional channels that increase the package price. Essentially, Venu Sports was solving a problem that the media companies created and maintained.
In a surprise twist, Disney now wants to offload its Hulu + Live TV service to Fubo, which has now dropped all legal action against Disney. The new combined company will still be called Fubo and “led by the existing Fubo management team,” but will operate Hulu + Live TV and Fubo as independent services. Disney will own 70% of the new combined company, and the regular Hulu streaming service will stay with Disney.
Fubo will also be allowed to create a new ‘Sports & Broadcast service’ that will contain “Disney’s premier sports and broadcast networks including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, as well as ESPN+.” Venu Sports is also still presumably going to happen, which would have that Disney sports content in addition to content from Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox.
It’s hard not to see this as the TV market continuing to shrink, though Disney owning 70% of the new combined Fubo isn’t much different than how it owned 100% of Hulu afterbuying Comcast’s remaining share in 2023. The deal still has to be approved by regulatory agencies and shareholders.
