Bob Iger Explains Why Venu was Scrapped, Why Disney Bought Fubo and Why New Skinny Bundles Help ESPN

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Disney thinks an emerging suite of so-called “skinny bundles” serves as a better way to make ESPN available to cord-cutters than Venu, a now-scuttled streaming sports joint venture with Warner Bros.

Discovery and Fox Corp., ever would have. Disney’s goal for ESPN is “to make ESPN as accessible as possible and in as many ways as possible to the consumer,” said Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, during a call with investors Wednesday. “Some will want to consume it just through an app.

Some will want to consume it as part of the more traditional, expanded, basic bundle. Some will migrate into in the direction of skinnier bundles or sports bundles only.” Venu was seen as a new means of getting a good chunk of linear sports to an audience that no longer subscribes to traditional TV and cable.

But the venture was brought up short by a legal challenge from Fubo, a sports-focused streaming outlet that claimed the rise of Venu would put it out of business.