Streaming Sports: The Challenge of Accessibility in a Fragmented Market

The Challenge of Streaming Sports

Earlier this year, a bunch of sports fans took to Reddit to vent. “I used to like sports, then they made it damn near impossible to watch them,” wrote one Reddit user. “They make it harder and harder to find games, and even if you know where it is, you’ll need a myriad of subscriptions to watch,” added another commenter. “Definitely scaled back on my sports watching with all the fragmentation,” agreed a third Reddit user.

While the transition from traditional TV to streaming has been a boon for movie buffs and binge-watchers, many sports fans feel left behind. Most of the major leagues are still firmly wedded to traditional cable networks, making it nearly impossible for viewers to cut the cord.

The Fragmentation of Sports Streaming Services

At the same time, sports television is getting increasingly scattered across multiple services, with companies like Apple, Amazon, and even Netflix streaming key games as well. All of this has sports fans wondering: Why did sports TV get so complicated? And how come there isn’t a Netflix of sports yet?

The Venu Sports Attempt

It certainly isn’t for a lack of trying. The most recent attempt to create such a service is Venu Sports, which was supposed to launch in August. Backed by Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, Venu aimed to combine the best of the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL, plus a range of other sporting events.

In addition to live and on-demand matches, the service also planned to offer linear feeds of sports-centric TV networks like ESPN, Fox Sports, and the Big Ten Network, as well as broadcast and cable networks like ABC and TNT that regularly carry major sports events, for a monthly fee of $42.99.

“We will launch at a compelling price point that will appeal to the cord cutter and cord never fans currently not served by existing pay TV packages.”