By Zaheer Kachwala and Dawn Chmielewski
January 10, 2025 – 8:28 AM PST
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(Reuters) – Walt Disney (DIS.N), Fox and Warner Bros Discovery on Friday abandoned plans to launch Venu Sports, their live sports joint venture, pulling the plug on the much-heralded effort after it ran into substantial legal opposition.
Shares of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) were down 4.6%, Fox’s (FOXA.O) stock fell about 2%, while Disney lost 1.5% after the surprise announcement.
Venu was meant to attract sports fans who either canceled or never subscribed to cable TV – but quickly ran into legal troubles. Smaller streamer FuboTV (FUBO.N), which sued on antitrust grounds, claiming the media partners had extended Venu rights it refused to grant other distributors, giving the service an unfair competitive advantage. Fubo shares…
