Kian Bhatt

The new streaming service from ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery will offer a majority of sports content to viewers.

Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that they are building a new streaming service that will offer content from all major sports leagues.

Each company will have one-third ownership of the as-yet-unnamed service, which will be available through an app and is set to launch in the fall. Customers will also have the option to bundle the new offering with Disney+, Hulu, and Max. 

The service will include 14 networks, such as Disney’s ESPN channels and ABC network, Warner’s TNT and TBS, and Fox’s broadcast network and sports cable channel. With the wide variety of networks, the new service will work similarly to cable providers.

Cable providers bundle together various networks, meaning when you buy cable television, you may pay for services you don’t watch. This enables cable companies to profit by spreading the high costs for content rights amongst subscribers with different viewing habits. ESPN, Fox, and Warner are creating a skinnier version of a cable bundle, in streaming form, tailored to sports fans.

Pooling resources will allow the companies to compete more aggressively with deep-pocketed tech giants like Apple and Amazon, who have been snapping up sports rights over the past few years. 

Combining resources will help the companies compete more forcefully against tech giants such as Apple and Amazon, who have acquired a large chunk of sports broadcasting rights in recent years.

Citi analysts say the offering could account for about 55% of U.S. sports rights. The service will feature a wide variety of sports, including the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), college football and basketball, golf, and National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).

Even with the variety of sports offered, the service still won’t be an all-in-one sports platform, partly because Comcast’s NBC and Paramount’s CBS are not included in the partnership. For example, NFL fans will still need CBS for Sunday afternoon football, NBC’s Peacock for Sunday night football, and Amazon Prime Video for Thursday night football.

The partnership between the three media giants won’t account for all sports programming — but it will account for most of it. This could draw antitrust scrutiny, meaning the service may be considered a monopoly. Mindful of antitrust laws, Disney, Fox, and Warner said they will negotiate independently for sports rights. 

To see an expert analysis on the topic, click here.