• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 10, 2025

Is Disney causing confusion when it comes to its deal to buy a 70% stake in Fubo TV -- and also plopping its Hulu + Live TV not-very-profitable virtual pay TV service into Fubo?

Some analysts aren’t sure what is going on.

This is especially true when considering that the whole premise of this deal was to push aside the Fubo TV lawsuit -- one that was given some hope via the U.S. District Court judge, who allowed the suit to proceed.

Disney’s aim in striking the Fubo deal was to stop the lawsuit so Disney's Venu Sports platform -- the sports-focused live streaming service, a joint venture of Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Distribution -- could go ahead.

That’s the easy top-line analysis. But wait....

--What does this mean for Disney’s other sports efforts -- the full-cable TV version of ESPN as a streaming service launch?
--Also, what happens to ESPN+ after the launch of Venu Sports and the full version of ESPN?
--Now that Hulu+Live TV is being offloaded onto Fubo, what remains then of regular Hulu (on-demand streaming platforms)?
--How will Fubo -- described a sports-focused pay TV service -- transition with a more general entertainment-focused Hulu Live business?

That’s not all. Robert Fishman, media analyst at MoffettNathanson Research, wonders why Disney didn’t go all the way and just buy out Fubo totally and put its operations into Hulu. Why keep that Fubo brand name around -- and as a separate publicly traded company?

Fishman believes there is more to come.

“We will be able to look back on this transaction as a necessary step for Disney to help actually simplify its sports streaming strategy.”

More to the point, he says consumers really want just a good priced virtual pay TV alternative to what they had with legacy pay TV cable and satellite services.

“We have long argued skinny vMVPD bundles with a much lower price point are what consumers ultimately are seeking and in fact the new company plans on finally bringing to market a sports and broadcast offering.”

All to say this isn’t the end of the story.

‘This is certainly getting far into the realm of speculation, but the deal certainly has an air of being merely step one of a larger plan.”