Disney CEO Bob Iger Says “Venu Basically Looked Redundant To Us” As Other Skinny Bundles Emerged​on February 5, 2025 at 3:01 pm

Venu, the planned streaming sports joint venture that’s fading into history, became irrelevant as similar opportunities began to arise for ESPN to join other targeted, or so-called “skinny,” bundles. “Look what essentially happened is, after the decision was made and we started to implement the launch of Venu, the emergence of these skinnier bundles surfaced, […]Venu, the planned streaming sports joint venture that’s fading into history, became irrelevant as similar opportunities began to arise for ESPN to join other targeted, or so-called “skinny,” bundles. “Look what essentially happened is, after the decision was made and we started to implement the launch of Venu, the emergence of these skinnier bundles surfaced,   

Venu, the planned streaming sports joint venture that’s fading into history, became irrelevant as similar opportunities began to arise for ESPN to join other targeted, or so-called “skinny,” bundles.

“Look what essentially happened is, after the decision was made and we started to implement the launch of Venu, the emergence of these skinnier bundles surfaced, and Venu basically looked redundant to us. And so this was a great opportunity for us to make ESPN available on multiple skinny bundles,” the chief executive said on a call with analysts after quarterly earnings.

“The goal all along, as it relates to ESPN, is to make ESPN as accessible as possible and in as many ways as possible to the consumer. Some will want to consume it just through an app. Some will want to consume it as part of the more traditional, expanded basic bundle, some will migrate into in the direction of skinnier bundles, or sports bundles only.

“I can’t predict whether the emergence of these skinnier bundles is going to have a material impact on cord cutting or not, except to say that we plan to take advantage of the emergence of these bundles, because it is a great way to distribute ESPN,” he said during the Q&A.

Distributors DirectTV, Comcast and Fubo – which can take credit for suing Venu into oblivion and then settling when it was too late – either have or will launch skinny bundles.

Venu was a venture of Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery that had staffed up and was initially to launch last fall. They settled with Fubo for $220 million. The flurry also included a transaction involving Hulu + Live TV. Disney agreed to merge it with Fubo and take 70% of the new, expanded company in a deal that’s awaiting regulatory approval.

“Frankly, while we like being in that business, it wasn’t a core business to Hulu. This gives us the ability to actually enhance the Hulu Live experience, because the combination, the combined entity, when it’s approved, will spend more time, put more resources into the user interface and essentially in making the former Hulu Live experience better for consumers,” Iger said.

Back to sports, ESPN is currently available on a tile in Disney+, which is helping drive engagement. Disney is highly focused on the upcoming rollout of flagship ESPN+ which will have many more elements and enhancements including, eventually, “some form of betting and fantasy and a high degree of customization and personalization, and essentially a much bigger offering in terms of product programming,” Iger said.

It will be offered as a standalone as well as bundled with Disney+ and Hulu. “We will get really smart and strategic about pricing there … so we’re bullish.”