Now that we finallyknow what Venu Sports is going to costevery month, it’s time to sit down and do some math. Because there’s a very real possibility that despite executives’ statements to the contrary, this new streaming service that combines the sports rights of Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery could actually grow beyond how its creators intended.
First, some context. There are a million moving parts to all three companies involved in Venu Sports. Disney owns the ESPN family of networks, as well as ABC. Those are all included in practically every cable subscription, as well as nearly all linear streaming services in the U.S. (The low-costPhilois the one that’s lacking any dedicated sports channels.) Disney also owns Hulu, which hasthe second-largest live streaming service in the U.S. Fox, meanwhile, has eschewed the dedicated streaming service route, but it does own the massively successfulTubi. And Warner Bros. Discovery is all over the traditional cable space, and streaming — and ownsMax.
But as streaming prices have continued to increase over the years — and the options look more and more like the inescapable cable bundles of old — those of us who pay the bills are looking for more and better options. And if you’re the sort who cares about live sports but doesn’t need a half-dozen channels with MCU movies every night, Venu Sports may make a lot of sense.
As always, it comes down to math, and a more subjective look at whether you’re actually making use of what you’re paying for.
Here’s how I think things could play out. Maybe not for a majority of folks, but this could be a real option for a lot of people.
So let’s imagine that Venu Sports covers, say, 80% of what you also can get on YouTube TV — I’m making up that number; it might well be more. But it does so at a price that’s about 41% less every month. If you were to cancel YouTube TV, you’d lose out on CBS and NBC, but also save a bunch of money.
Here’s what I’d do: I’drig up an over-the-air antenna. That’ll theoretically get you all your local broadcast channels — including CBS and NBC and the live sports they carry — for just the cost of an antenna, maybe a goodnetworked tuner like Tablo, and the time and effort it takes to set things up right. (I highly recommend not just slapping an antenna in a window and hoping for the best.)
To reiterate:An OTA antennais a one-time expense for hardware, and the work to install it — which really isn’t all that difficult if you’re any good at basic home-repair-type stuff. From there you can plug it into your TV if you just need a basic setup, or into something like Tablo (which is our current favorite) if you want to be able to watch on more than one device, or record anything over the air.
The broadcasts themselves are free, now and (probably) forever. And if you don’t need the 75 or so extra channels (at least) that come with a cable or streaming services and just care about sports, augmenting that free over-the-air feed with a sports-centric streaming service that’s 41% less expensive every month suddenly becomes a very tempting option.
Not that the execs are going to say that out loud anytime soon.
