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New streaming venture from ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. won't solve much – at least not yet

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One day, the brilliant TV executives will all unite and bring their programming under one roof. It solves all your sports watching problems. They'll call it cable.

This new venture from ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. It's not Discovery. At least not yet.

It's still important that three of the biggest brands in sports are teaming up this fall to give fans another option. The Great Rebundling is just around the corner, but it is far from being resolved.

This does not apply to the consumer need this venture will be named later and my first guess is that most of you will choose that option. The service will be equally owned by the three parties, but each partner will receive the same compensation as they earn through cable or YouTubeTV, according to sources with knowledge of the deal. Only ESPN, the unique network, receives about $12 per month from cable subscribers.

So what does that mean for you? The estimated price for the new venture if you add ESPN, Fox and WBD Sports together will likely be around $40 to $50 per month. There are probably sports fans who want to save some money with this scheme, but it's hard to believe there are many.

You can already watch almost everything this trio offers through places like YouTube TV for around $70 and change per month. If you want this option, it's already available, with even more channels to boot.

After a year of talks between the three parties, it is valuable to see these superpowers coming together, and it is very understandable why they did so. It is not a risk at all for them, but a reward. This “sports skinny bundle” – as the cool media kids like to call it – is worth a try.

With this small step, Fox Sports is entering the sports subscription space for the first time. They've been the ones to watch their competitors sink billions into subscription streaming while patiently waiting their time on the sidelines. Their executives thought rebundling was the best choice, so this gives them a first chance.

ESPN plans to go direct-to-consumer with its entire product by 2025, with the possibility of 2024. Now it will start with tag team partners this fall.

This new arrangement does not deter ESPN's previous plans. The network still plans to have a standalone ESPN direct-to-consumer product next year. Additionally, it could still move forward with an equity partnership with the NFL or other leagues and/or digital players.

WBD Sports has an ever-underrated menu of rights for its new product, from the NBA and MLB playoffs to March Madness.


The new sports streaming venture is a step toward rebundling sports rights, but an incomplete step. For example, Sunday's Super Bowl on CBS would not be on the platform. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

But the reason these entities don't have anything complete here yet is the exclusion of other major players – like CBS for example.

This “sports skinny bundle” is a little too skinny to include Patrick Mahomes, Christian McCaffrey, and Taylor Swift this weekend since CBS has the Super Bowl this year. More problematic when you compare this new product to YouTube: If you want to watch March Madness, the CBS games aren't on it. It won't be one-stop shopping.

The significance of this deal could increase over time, as the names in the press release suggested. The quotes were from the top: Disney's Bob Iger, Fox's Lachlan Murdoch and WBD's David Zaslav.

However, if they want to fight the almost unlimited pockets of Amazon, Apple or Netflix, if these digital giants become even more serious about sports rights, Iger, Murdoch and Zaslav as a trio could have a stronger hand.

The new entity will have its own CEO and will reportedly operate independently. However, his or her bosses will still be Iger, Murdoch and Zaslav, so how independent will it be? What could this lead to in the future? Will they get along? If the questions can be answered positively, it could lead to something even bigger.

For you, the fan, maybe this new CEO will find a way to bring everything you want to watch under one simple service. Until then, this endeavor won't change much for most of you.

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(Photo of Fox Sports' Michael Strahan interviewing Christian McCaffrey of the San Francisco 49ers after last month's NFC Championship Game: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)

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