Some of the most significant opposition to the Venu Sports joint venture between ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery came from DirecTV.
Last Thursday, the multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD) expressed their opposition (following Dish parent EchoStar) to the settlement of Fubo’s lawsuit against Venu in the wake of ESPN parent Disney’s acquisition of majority control in Fubo. That opposition likely played a role in Friday’s surprising announcement that Venu would be shut down. And now, DirecTV is launching its own version of a sports-focused skinny bundle (and one featuring a lot of ESPN and Disney networks), but it’s far different from what Venu was promising.
On Tuesday morning, DirecTV announced they’re launching MySports, “an industry-first sports-centric package with access to 40 sports and broadcast channels.” That package will be available immediately in 24 metropolitan areas, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay Area, and more, and will expand into more markets as more rights to local stations are negotiated. It will be available to stream via DirecTV’s existing apps.
Initially, MySports will include national channels ACC Network, Big Ten Network, DIRECTV 4K Live, DIRECTV 4K Live 2, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, FS1, FS2, Golf Channel, MLB Network, NBA TV, NFL Network, NHL Network, SEC Network, TBS, TNT, TruTV and USA Network. It will also include local affiliates owned and operated by ABC, Fox, and NBC. Their release notes that “Additional networks, local stations, and ESPN+, will be included in MySports at no extra cost in the near future.”
Pricing is a key part of this. DirecTV announced that MySports will be available for $49.99 monthly for the first three months for those who sign up before Feb. 28, 2025, a $20 discount off the regular price. Customers will be able to cancel at any time.
The post-promotional price of $69.99 is lower than DirecTV’s existing options. Those start at $74.99 a month for the Entertainment package (which doesn’t include many sports channels), $79.99 a month for the Choice package (which is the first package including many of these channels), and $109.99 for the Ultimate package (which is needed to get the likes of NHL Network). This package does have what was proposed for Venu (ESPN, Fox, and WBD sports networks), and does include more than Venu did; that’s definitely true with the league networks and with local NBC affiliates, and perhaps more (it remains unclear just which ESPN-operated networks would have been in Venu, and if ABC affiliates would have been included).
But this comes at a higher price point. Venu was looking to launch (maybe as early as next month’s Super Bowl following the Fubo lawsuit settlement) at $42.99 a month for at least 12 months, versus the $49.99 for three months here and $69.99 afterward. And this is much closer to a traditional MVPD package than the very specific access to a group of cable channels (and also broadcast Fox, and perhaps broadcast ABC) Venu was looking to offer.
However, there is a lot included here, especially with those non-college league networks (MLB Network, NBA TV, NFL Network, NHL Network) and ESPN+ (currently $11.99 a month on its own). And it’s notable that DirecTV has another Venu critic in NBC on the side, at least for their owned-and-operated local affiliates. While broadcast NBC affiliates are completely free over-the-air with a digital antenna, their inclusion in this package is notable and is nice for those who prefer to find everything in one interface. (Conversely, the absence of local CBS affiliates here is significant; those can be seen with an antenna, or with the standalone streaming service Paramount+ (for at least a decent amount of their programming, including sports), but they are not currently part of this deal.)
From a sheer access standpoint, MySports currently provides some value, as this looks like the cheapest MVPD option to get the ESPN networks (not currently available over the top), especially at the promo price but perhaps even for a bit beyond that. It also includes the WBD and Fox cable networks and the league networks beyond that.
But WBD’s networks are available separately through their own Max streaming service with the B/R Sports add-on. And ESPN will be this fall when they launch Flagship, which will allow for much more MVPD-less mixing and matching of antennas and streaming options.
There will still be some significant unavailable things there, especially with Fox’s cable channels and the non-college league networks. But there will be ways at that point for those looking to get “just ESPN” or “just ESPN and TNT” to do so that will be more cost-efficient than any MVPD plan like this, even a genre-focused one.
Thus, a key argument for MVPDs like DirecTV is the ease of finding everything in one interface. And there certainly are plenty (especially those of an older generation) who have complained about not being able to do that, preferring to be able to access all their channels in one cable or satellite interface. And ease of finding broadcasts does matter, which is why the whole “SportsHub” concept is a thing at DirecTV and beyond. (It should be noted, however, that many of the particular streaming services those complaints have been directed at are not included in MySports.)
MySports plans to “make it easier to catch every play through game-time notifications and the ability to watch now on live TV or later through unlimited cloud DVR.” They’ll also incorporate FAST (free advertising-supported television) channels from the MyFree DIRECTV lineup available in all their packages, including ACC Digital Network, Big 12, Fight Network, Fuel TV, Origin Sports, Pickleball TV, Players TV, Sports Grid, Stadium Stream, Surfer TV, Swerve Combat, T2, The Jim Rome Show, TNA, Torque by History, Waypoint TV and Women’s Sports Network. So this definitely could be appealing for those who want to get back to a more central app to watch all sports content (although, as noted, this will have some significant omissions).
This is a notable price-lowering from their standard bundles, and it does look like a good option (at least for now) for those who want an MVPD primarily for sports. CEO Bill Morrow outlined in a release that “This is the first of several genre-based options we plan to launch over the coming months on our path towards a brighter TV future for consumers,” so we’ll likely see more offerings along these lines from them.
With Venu dead (and dead at least partly due to DirecTV’s public opposition), MVPD packages like this are currently the only way to get linear ESPN. But that’s all going to change once ESPN finally rolls out Flagship this fall. MVPD offerings like MySports will still have some advantages, and will still be more appealing to at least some consumers (whether from particularly useful bundling or ease of access perspectives), but it remains to be seen how they’ll stack up against that competition.
There’s long been lobbying for sports-focused skinny bundles, but they largely haven’t happened to date, with MVPDs often citing resistance from the likes of ESPN parent Disney as a reason why. The end of DirecTV’s carriage dispute with Disney last fall did include a discussion of “The opportunity to offer multiple genre-specific options — sports, entertainment, kids & family — inclusive of Disney’s linear networks along with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+,” though, and one is now coming to fruition. And it will be interesting to see how much traction it gets, and if other MVPDs follow suit.
