The sports streaming joint venture from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery finally has a name: Venu Sports.The company’s name and logo were announced this morning by CEO Pete Distad. The service expects to launch this fall in the U.S., though it faces a legal challenge from pay-TV company Fubo and resistance from some corners of the industry and federal government. The companies first revealed plans for the initiative last February.“We are excited to officially introduce Venu Sports, a brand that we feel captures the spirit of an all-new streaming home where sports fans outside of the traditional pay TV eco-system can experience an incredible collection of live sports, all in one place,” Distad said. “As preparations for the platform continue to accelerate, we are singularly focused on delivering a best-in-class product for our target audience, built from the ground up using the latest technologies to engage and entertain discerning sports fans wanting one-stop access to live games.”The service will aggregate linear feeds from 14 sports-centric networks and “certain direct-to-consumer services,” Venu said. Pricing has not yet announced, but most Wall Street analysts and industry observers have predicted it will cost at least $40 a month. NBCUniversal and Paramount Global, notably, are not part of the venture and the current partners do not expect to add additional stakeholders in the near future.Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch earlier this year said his company is projecting Venu will attract about 5 million subscribers in five years, which suggests it is likely to be more of a complement to the pay-TV bundle than a major threat.While today’s announcement said the service is “on track” for the fall launch, it also noted that its commercial availability hinges on “regulatory approval and the finalization of definitive agreements amongst the parties.”
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