Fox Eager for Sports Streaming Partnership Following Revenue Dip
By Movieguide® Contributor
Fox is eager for its new sports streaming partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney following a revenue dip last quarter.
Last quarter, “Fox saw revenue dip 8% last quarter to $4.23 billion on weaker advertising due in part to tough comps from the year before,” Deadline reported.
Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch shared his optimism for the company despite the revenue loss.
He told Deadline, “At the halfway point in our fiscal year, our results demonstrate the strength and durability of our core brands and their ability to deliver solid audiences across our portfolio. FOX Sports continues to benefit from the power of live sports programming and FOX News has maintained its leadership in cable news, while Tubi has been resilient in an increasingly competitive market. Combining this steadfast portfolio of assets with a best-in-class balance sheet underpins our ability to deliver value for our shareholders.”
Earlier this month, Fox, along with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, announced a “compelling streaming sports service.”
“The platform brings together the companies’ portfolios of sports networks, certain direct-to-consumer (DTC) sports services and sports – including content from all the major professional sports leagues and college sports,” a press release from ESPN read.
“Fox’s Lachlan Murdoch said the company is ‘pumped’ [to] be part of the new entity. ‘We believe the service will provide passionate fans outside of the traditional bundle an array of amazing sports content all in one place,’ he said,” per Deadline.
Forbes noted that sporting events available from the three companies “will come from their owned and operated linear cable/broadcast channels; ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNews ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV, as well as streaming provider ESPN+. The live sporting events will include; NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, FIFA World Cup soccer, a myriad of college sports (including some MARCH MADNESS games and the newly expanded college football playoffs), NASCAR, Formula 1, cycling, UFC, WNBA, PGA golf and Grand Slam tennis among others.”
Movieguide® reported:
Disney, Warners Bros. and Fox announced that they are joining forces to create a single sports streaming bundle.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the entertainment industry will take “an important step forward” with this new move.
Per CNBC, “From Disney, that includes ESPN and its sister networks, such as ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, as well as the ABC broadcast network. Warner Bros. Discovery’s networks that showcase sports are TNT, TBS and TruTV. Fox will include the Fox broadcast station along with FS1, FS2 and BTN.”
“This is obviously a nice, positive step for fans,” media industry analyst Rich Greenfield, a co-founder of LightShed Partners, said.
“The launch of this new streaming sports service is a significant moment for Disney and ESPN, a major win for sports fans, and an important step forward for the media business,” Iger said in a statement. “This means the full suite of ESPN channels will be available to consumers alongside the sports programming of other industry leaders as part of a differentiated sports-centric service. I’m grateful to Jimmy Pitaro and the team at ESPN, who are at the forefront of innovating on behalf of consumers to create new offerings with more choice and greater value.”
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