According to Deadline Bob Iger, The CEO of Disney had some things to say about the streaming service Venue which just recently discontinued. The streaming service which was launched last fall was sued by DirectTV, Comcast, and Fubo and settled with Fubo for $220 million according to Deadline. Venue displayed many things but the biggest thing that viewers wanted was to be able to view ESPN. Deadline says that Venue was ” venture of Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros.” The bundle became “irrelevant” due to the same type of bundles emerging and the want for ESPN to be apart of other bundles. You can read about Venue more in a previous mxdwn article.
Iger made a statement in an interview saying that after Venu launched other bundles started to emerge making the streaming service “redundant”. He went on to say that now that Venue is no longer up and running that it gives them more opportunity to be able “make ESPN available on multiple skinny bundles,” said Iger. Iger says that he wasn’t sure how ESPN will do on these other streaming bundles but he wants to take the advantage of getting ESPN on other platforms because I will help with the distribution of the network. Deadline says that during a Q&A with Iger he says that the goal for ESPN was to be able to “make ESPN as accessible as possible and in as many ways as possible to the consumer,” and with the way it is going he will do exactly that.
Since then ESPN is available on Disney+ which is helping with consumer engagement. Disney has decided on the idea to make ESPN+ which will hopefully help with consumer engagement as well. Deadline says that the network will be offered separately as well as a bundle along with Hulu and Disney+. According to Deadline Iger says that this time they will be more strategic about the pricing.