Navigating the streaming environment can be tough for sports fans. Byzantine licensing deals between platforms and sports broadcasters leads to fans either missing out on some sports or paying through the nose to be able to watch everything they want to.
Enter Venu Sports, a sports-specific streaming option that promises to carry "thousands of live sports events from all the major professional sports leagues and top college conferences" for $42.99 a month (after a free 7-day trial).
Venu is expected to launch this fall—right before football season begins—but it's not a done deal. The ambitious sports streaming platform has some legal hurdles to clear if its going to launch on schedule.
A joint venture between ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox, Venu will offer all of the sports currently broadcast by its parent companies. That includes the NHL, MLB, college football and basketball, most NFL games, most NBA games, and a ton of other sports options.
Venu will also stream 14 sports networks, including all the ESPN channels, ABC, Fox, TNT, and TBS sports channels, plus a ton of smaller channels like the ACC Network, the SEC Network, and the Big Ten Network.
If you were hoping for a one-price "I get to want to watch all the sports" option, Venu is a step in the right direction, but it's not all the way there, even at its current $42.99 monthly price. Here's what you won't be able to watch on Venu:
Every NFL game. Venu will offer most NFL games, but CBS and NBC are not part of the deal, so Sunday Night football and some Sunday afternoon games will not be available on Venu (unless a new agreement is reached between now and the service's launch.) Meanwhile, rights to Thursday night football games are owned by Amazon, so those presumably won't be broadcast on Venu either, nor will the two games Netflix has scheduled for Christmas Day.
Every NBA game. Broadcast rights for professional basketball had been the property of TNT's parent company Warner Bros. (now Warner Bros. Discovery) for years, but starting with the 2025-2026 season, rights will likely be split between Disney, NBC, and Amazon. So whatever games NBC and Amazon broadcast are unlikely to be available on Venu.
The Olympics. NBC has exclusive rights to broadcast the Olympics through the 2032 summer games.
Before Venu launches this fall, it'll need to overcome some legal obstacles. Streaming platform Fubo has filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction against Venu, and unspecified damages. Fubo alleges that the team-up of Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox would prevent other distributors of live sports (ike Fubo) from competing fairly.
Another potential legal adversary: the U.S. government. The Department of Justice is reportedly scrutinizing Venu to determine whether its structure would violate antitrust regulations, and members of congress are already demanding Venu provide answers as to how it is preventing collusion and ensuring customer privacy, and explaining how it set its pricing.
