Fox Corp. CFO Steve Tomsic Clarifies The Company’s Streaming Approach: “We’re Not Trying To Chase The SVOD Dream”

deadline.com:

Fox Corp. CFO Steve Tomsic sought to clarify the company’s surprising announcement earlier this month that it plans to launch a general-interest subscription streaming service later this year. “Our thesis hasn’t changed,” Tomsic insisted Tuesday in an appearance at the Barclays Communications and Content Symposium. “We’re not trying to chase the SVOD dream of Netflix and Disney and Peacock and Paramount+ are all chasing.

That is not our game. We remain resolute about the strategy we’re pursuing.” After spending six years affirming its plan to stay out of the streaming wars, a strategy that won favor on Wall Street Fox said earlier this month that it plans to launch a diversified service this year.

Details are still scarce, though some news and sports will be included. Execs have described it as complementary with the main pay-TV offerings of Fox, much as the recently scuttled Venu Sports joint venture was aiming to be.

The $71.3 billion sale of most of 21st Century Fox to Disney in 2019 created a “hyper-scaled competitor in the general-entertainment/SVOD space,” Tomsic said. “There is a different basis of competition versus where play, which is largely live sports and news with a bunch of other assets on top.