Fox is starting its own streaming service in wake of Venu disaster

This writer would like to personally apologize for writing that Venu—Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros.' D.O.A. sports streamer—was "unnecessary" or "had a silly name." How was she to know that the bundle's premature demise would be the butterfly effect that led to the creation of a dedicated Fox News streaming service? Come back, Venu! Your name is really good and doesn't sound like a rejected Teletubby at all!

Fox had a great final quarter of 2024 (that little event in D.C. helped a lot), with only one major disappointment: Venu, as CEO Lachlan Murdoch explained during an earnings call today (per The Hollywood Reporter). "In the end, the legal distractions around the business became increasingly difficult to bear," he said. (Rival live TV provider Fubo sued the venture for violating antitrust laws as soon as it was announced, benching it before it began.)

Now, the company is looking to start its own streaming platform that will be "holistic of all of our content, of sports and news," per the earnings call. As THR notes, this suggests that the content initially meant for Venu will be wrapped into this new DTC platform, right alongside those good ol' alternative facts. "We are designing an offering to really target those cord cutters and cord-nevers that are not traditionally in the cable bundle," Murdoch continued.

Having seen so much success in recent years—the company made $388 million net income last quarter alone—Fox isn't looking to abandon its traditional strategy any time soon. Sports and news will still broadcast on traditional linear networks, while the main goal of the streaming service is to "reach consumers wherever they are, and there’s a large population, obviously, that are now outside of the traditional cable funnel."