It was only days after Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery cancelled their planned Venu sports streaming service that DirecTV this week announced it would launch its own sports-centric service called MySports. The irony isn’t lost on observers, considering that DirecTV had threatened to continue the fight against Venu after the parties settled with Fubo in a nine-figure deal that included fusing Fubo with Disney’s Hulu + Live. Now DirecTV seems to be preemptively taking advantage of what it perceives as a vacuum – even though Venu’s features were always a bit ambiguous. WBD CEO David Zaslav had months ago promised a more modern virtual MVPD that didn’t even feature traditional channels. But alas, the world will never see that vision realized unless the Venu backers at some point change their mind (a greater possibility if the DirecTV service starts to catch fire).
This is all complicated by the fact that Disney, which seems to have taken the lead on the Fubo settlement considering it ended up with 70% of the company, plans to make a big splash this Fall when it launches its ESPN flagship streaming service. Much of what Zaslav teased over the summer at the Allen & Co. Sun Valley moguls’ retreat might still surface within the ESPN flagship app, which already appears ready to change the game by integrating live and on-demand sports programming with fantasy leagues, betting, merchandise tie-ins, and likely much more for the avid sports fan. But DirecTV’s move to create a skinny sports bundle deserves some attention leading into the ESPN flagship launch. Fubo’s team is already set to run both Fubo and Hulu + Live under the deal with Disney, as well as a planned “Sports & Broadcast” service described as a specialized tier featuring the major broadcast nets, ESPN channels, SEC Network, ACC Network, and other sports-friendly options. Despite Disney’s majority ownership, all of that will compete on some level with Disney’s own ESPN flagship service (or perhaps siphon more casual sports fans looking for a cheaper option). Meanwhile, the introduction of DirecTV’s MySports could offer yet another option for consumers, who have spent the last few years confused about where to find their games and likely pining for an easier solution that doesn’t require subscribing to full expanded basic from a traditional or virtual MVPD.
As for details, MySports (whose logo carries the “beta” caveat) features 40 sports-centric nets, game-time notifications, unlimited cloud DVR, and costs $49.99/mo for three months for activations before February 28, after which it pops to $69.99/mo. For now, it’s only available on the DirecTV Stream vMVPD and only in select markets: Atlanta, Austin, Boston (Manchester), Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Detroit, Fresno-Visalia, Los Angeles, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Milwaukee, Minneapolis
-St. Paul, New York City, Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland-San Jose, Seattle-Tacoma, Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota), Gainesville, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix (Prescott), and Washington, D.C. (Hagerstown). The service includes local broadcast stations, which may be part of the reason it’s limited to a few markets for now as DirecTV negotiates carriage; DirecTV’s promo site notes “more coming soon!,” so it seems those negotiations continue.
Next? Although the recent Fubo settlement makes the timing of the DirecTV announcement a bit interesting, the flurry of activity over the last few weeks on the sports front and upcoming ESPN flagship launch could signal the start of a new era for sports streaming. With streaming pure-plays Netflix, Amazon, and Apple TV+ increasingly buying sports rights as well as other live programming, the game appears to be changing fast for all involved. Consumers have asked for this. Now the question is whether additional sports options – including the skinny sports bundles that MVPDs have sought for years – will bring cord cutters back into the linear fold while offering new ways to mix and match streaming and traditional packages, especially in light of recent MVPD-streaming bundle deals. It will be an exciting next few months and years.
