Venu Sports scrapped by Fox, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery before it even gets a chance to launch

Venu Sports, the proposed sports streaming joint venture from Disney’s ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros.Discovery, has been scrapped ahead of its anticipated launch, the companies said Friday.

The surprise decision, which is effective immediately, follows a legal settlement earlier this week between Disney and Fubo that had appeared to pave the way for Venu to launch.“After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service,” the companies said in a joint statement.

“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 companies added.The debut of the sports streaming service had been delayed in part by a lawsuit from streaming rival Fubo which accused Venu’s partners of engaging in anti-competitive practices that would thwart competition for sports fans.The move to scrap Venu also comes a day after DirecTV challenged the dismissal of Fubo’s lawsuit against Venu, saying it did not resolve antitrust issues connected to the joint venture. After announcing the Fubo settlement on Monday, Disney said it would merge its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo. As part of the deal, Fubo asked the US District Court in Manhattan on Monday to drop its lawsuit against the media giants behind Venu, the sports bundle that was supposed to launch last fall.Disney, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery announced last February that it would launch the standalone service, which would combine the sports assets of the three companies. “We are proud of the work that has been done on Venu to date and grateful to the Venu staff, whom we will support through this transition period,” the companies added....