American companies Walt Disney Co., Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery have decided to abandon the launch of the sports streaming service Venu.
"After careful consideration, we collectively decided to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service," the companies stated. "In light of ongoing market changes, we concluded that it would be better to meet the evolving needs of sports fans by focusing on existing products and distribution channels."
It was initially intended for Venu to combine the assets of Fox, WBD, and ESPN (owned by Disney) in the realm of live sports broadcasting and to launch before the start of the American National Football League (NFL) season last September; however, the project was delayed partly due to antitrust claims from competitor Fubo.
Disney settled these claims earlier this week by agreeing to merge its Hulu+ Live TV platform with Fubo's internet television service.