From the Journal:
Walt Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery this past week announced a new sports-only #streaming joint venture that will offer viewers content from all the major college and pro sports, bundling together ESPN , ABC, Fox, TNT, TBS, and an assortment of other sports-focused networks.
So far, the new venture has no name, and the companies haven’t unveiled a leadership team or provided details on pricing. But this new service—if launched as planned this fall—could shake the already rickety foundation of the U.S. television market to its core. With this deal, #TV shifts from evolution to revolution.
Effectively, the three companies are building a sports-based version of services like YouTube TV and Sling TV that offer digital alternatives to old-school cable. They’re removing news and entertainment programming from the cable bundle, leaving only sports behind.
Michael Nathanson, an analyst with MoffettNathanson, described the plan as “the skinny sports bundle that we’ve been waiting for,” a service that “strips out the bloat.”
This is a problem if you run linear news or #entertainment channels, i.e., “the bloat.” And that is hardly the only complication.
“Whether you are #Paramount, Comcast , National Football League (NFL) Network, AMC Networks, A&E Networks, or station groups with large numbers of NBCUniversal or CBS stations, the successful launch of [the sports] bundle is your worst nightmare,” wrote Lightshed Partners analyst Rich Greenfield.
Cord-cutting will accelerate: Since 2018, a quarter of all U.S. households have dropped their pay-TV services, as viewers cut the cord and refocused on streaming services. One of the main reasons for keeping that cord has been sports, but the new bundle could offer a non-cable, cheaper alternative to sports fans.
The Walt Disney Company and Fox Corporation have said the offering is focused on “cord-nevers” rather than cord-cutters, but that feels like wishful thinking. There has been little reason to hang on to conventional pay-TV services other than #sports and news content. And now a big part of that reason is going away.
💪🏼 great going!!