from Todd Spangler of Variety,
The Fox Corp., Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery sports streaming joint venture is anticipating signing up 5 million customers in the first five years, CEO Lachlan Murdoch said Monday.
The 5 million mark will be where the JV “settles after five years,” Murdoch said, speaking Monday at the 2024 Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco. He was making the point that Fox Corp. expects the sports streaming venture will be incremental to its existing pay-TV revenue base.
“This a pro-consumer package,” Murdoch said. Historically, the TV industry has “made life for our audiences… incredibly hard,” he continued. “What this bundle does is put a majority of sports into one bundle. It’s an easy place for sports fans to come to.”
Last month, the media company announced a joint venture with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery to create a unified streaming platform pooling ESPN+ and their linear TV networks that carry sports programming. The as-yet unnamed joint venture is aiming to launch in the fall of 2024. The trio plan to sell the sports package available directly to consumers in the U.S. and as an add-on to services like Disney+, Hulu and Max.