Fox, Kalshi reportedly in ‘advanced talks’ on partnership

Media companies continue to embrace prediction markets.

Fox is reportedly the next broadcaster to link up with prediction market Kalshi, according to a report by Ryan Glasspiegel and Ben Horney in Front Office Sports. The deal, which is not yet finalized, will include only Fox News and Fox Weather, not Fox Sports, but still marks the continuation of a trend that has seen several media companies join forces with prediction markets. Recently, CNN and CNBC have inked similar deals with Kalshi.

The exclusion of Fox Sports in this deal is interesting. Sports markets comprise a large majority of the trading volume on platforms like Kalshi and its primary competitor Polymarket. In part, that is due to these platforms’ ability to offer an experience akin to sports betting in states that have yet to legalize wagering on sports via more traditional sportsbooks like DraftKings or FanDuel.

However, prediction markets like Kalshi are not trying to bill themselves as a sportsbook alternative, but rather a place where users can go to see how markets value outcomes on a wide variety of topics. As a Kalshi spokesperson previously told Front Office Sports, most users access the platform simply to view the probabilities markets are giving to a particular event, not to trade themselves.

But the abstention of Fox Sports from the deal would seem to indicate that there might be at least some concern that a direct partnership would encroach on the same space as traditional sportsbooks. Fox Sports does not currently have an official odds provider, but it does have marketing deals with various sportsbooks. State prosecutors have begun going after prediction markets like Kalshi as offering illegal wagering on sports. So for Fox to make the distinction between a partnership for its news and weather verticals and its sports division is notable.

But the trend of media companies, and even sports leagues, partnering with prediction markets is certainly undeniable at this point. The bigger questions center on how these prediction markets will be regulated in the future.