Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of Fox, has announced that the company’s sports streaming venture with Disney/ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery is making progress with over 150 engineers working on the project. The team is dedicated to creating a unique and innovative product for sports fans outside the traditional cable bundle. The venture recently launched internal beta tests and will launch this fall.
In March, Pete Distad was appointed to lead the new joint venture, and Murdoch praised him as a world-class CEO who is off to a great start. He emphasized during a conference call that Fox remains fully supportive of the traditional cable bundle, which is their largest revenue stream. The company will continue to support its distributors but also seek to place its brands where viewers are.
When asked if the new app would be bundled with Fox Corp.’s Tubi platform, Murdoch explained that Tubi is a different product. He suggested that it may make more sense to bundle sports with other subscription video-on-demand services in the future. Regarding the new app, Murdoch teased that it is innovative and specifically tailored for cord-nevers and cord-cutters. It will not be comparable to a tier of live channels but rather a digital-first product.
Murdoch shared that the team is working at full capacity to complete the product, with user interface being a focus, but also significant engineering work involved in content ingestion from various partners to create a seamless product. He assured that the upcoming sports streaming app will be groundbreaking in the country.
