Fox has spent years sitting on the sidelines of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming race, letting its competitors burn cash like its Monopoly money. But now, with Venu Sports dead and ESPN’s standalone streamer looming, Fox is finally getting off the bench and launching its own subscription service by the end of 2025.
Lachlan Murdoch confirmed the move during Fox’s Q2 earnings call, casually mentioning that the company was “designing an offering” for cord-cutters and cord-nevers—because, while every legacy media company is squeezing every last milligram of juice out of the cable bundle, Fox knows it can’t rely on it forever.
Not Rocking the Boat (Too Much)
Fox has been one of the last true believers in the traditional cable bundle, and for good reason. The company still pulls in billions in affiliate fees, and Murdoch made it clear that this new DTC play is meant to expand Fox’s reach—not poach from its existing pay-TV audience.
“We do not want to, and we have no intention of, turn a traditional distribution customer into a DTC customer,” Murdoch assured investors, making it clear that the service’s pricing and expectations would be “modest.” Translation: Don’t expect Fox to set cash on fire chasing subscriber numbers like Disney or Warner Bros. Discovery.
Murdoch also said the service won’t have “incremental rights costs” or new exclusive content. In other words, Fox is just bundling what it already has—sports, news, and other network content—into a package for people who refuse to pay for cable.
Venu’s Ghost Lingers
Of course, this pivot comes just weeks after the spectacular implosion of Venu Sports, the would-be streaming joint venture that Fox was building with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery. The project was meant to be an all-in-one sports streamer (but without all of the sports) until legal challenges and Disney’s decision to merge Hulu + Live TV with Fubo effectively undercut the entire premise. With one partner bailing for a different strategy and the threat of more legal headaches looming, Venu never had a chance.
With Venu unalived, Fox is left to go it alone. Murdoch didn’t share much about how this new DTC service will work, but some industry chatter suggests that Venu might have been running on a branch of Fox Sports’ tech. If that’s true—a big if—Fox could have some streaming infrastructure sitting around looking for a purpose.
The Take
While Fox is finally getting into the DTC business, make no mistake—this isn’t some grand reinvention. The company is still firmly team cable, and Murdoch went out of his way to praise the growing trend of “skinny bundles” from Comcast and DirecTV that focus on sports and news. Those deals keep Fox’s carriage fees flowing, and if this new DTC service helps plug a few revenue holes without cannibalizing pay TV, all the better.
Fox’s play here isn’t about leading the streaming revolution—it’s about making sure it doesn’t get left behind. And if they happen to repurpose some tech from Venu’s digital graveyard along the way? Well, that’s just good business.
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