Disney CEO Bob Iger Says “Venu Basically Looked Redundant To Us” As Other Skinny Bundles Emerged
deadline.comVenu, the planned streaming sports joint venture that’s fading into history, became irrelevant as similar opportunities began to arise for ESPN to join other targeted, or so-called “skinny,” bundles. “Look what essentially happened is, after the decision was made and we started to implement the launch of Venu, the emergence of these skinnier bundles surfaced, and Venu basically looked redundant to us.
And so this was a great opportunity for us to make ESPN available on multiple skinny bundles,” the chief executive said on a call with analysts after quarterly earnings. “The goal all along, as it relates to ESPN, is to make ESPN as accessible as possible and in as many ways as possible to the consumer.
Some will want to consume it just through an app. Some will want to consume it as part of the more traditional, expanded basic bundle, some will migrate into in the direction of skinnier bundles, or sports bundles only. “I can’t predict whether the emergence of these skinnier bundles is going to have a material impact on cord cutting or not, except to say that we plan to take advantage of the emergence of these bundles, because it is a great way to distribute ESPN,” he said during the Q&A.
Distributors DirectTV, Comcast and Fubo – which can take credit for suing Venu into oblivion and then settling when it was too late – either have or will launch skinny bundles.
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