Fox finally eyes launch of direct-to-consumer streaming service

As the last holdout of the major American media companies, Fox may finally be headed to streaming.

Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch told investors during a Q2 earnings call on Tuesday that the company could roll out its “own DTC offering in the near future,” according to reporting from Brian Steinberg of Variety.

The offering would include both Fox’s sports and news properties and launch by the end of the calendar year.

Fox CEO: Hints at potential for ‘our own DTC offering in the near future’ for sports

— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) February 4, 2025

The move would mark a significant departure for Fox, who has yet to offer any of its linear programming — such as Fox, FS1, and Fox News — on a direct-to-consumer platform. To this point, the company has simply dipped its toe into the streaming world with Fox Nation, a supplemental subscription service targeted at Fox News viewers, and Tubi, a growing FAST platform that will stream the Super Bowl this year.

Murdoch’s announcement comes shortly after the demise of Venu Sports, the never-launched joint streaming venture of Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Presumably, with Venu dead-on-arrival, the media giant feels the need to have some sort of streaming presence, even if it only includes its own programming.

But even with the move, Fox reiterated that its value is still tied to the traditional cable model. “We see the traditional cable bundle as still the most value for our consumers and for the company,” Murdoch said. But Fox wants to reach the “large population outside the cable bundle.”

Fox CEO: ‘We see the traditional cable bundle as still the most value for our consumers and for the company…’ but wants to reach ‘a large population outside the cable bundle’

— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) February 4, 2025

That likely means the DTC service will be priced at a point that discourages current pay TV subscribers from cutting the cord, but encourages so-called “cord-nevers” and customers who have already cut the cord to subscribe to the direct-to-consumer service.

Fox CEO: No intent to churn a traditional cable customer into streaming customer. ‘Modest’ expectations and will price it accordingly. Do not expect any incremental rights cost, service will package existing content and existing brands, cost will be ‘relatively low’

— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) February 4, 2025

Like with most standalone streaming services, it’s difficult to see who exactly the customer is. Fox only has some of the NFL, some college football and basketball, some NASCAR races, etc. The future streaming service will need to be one part of a customer’s overall streaming diet.

And that could be exactly what Fox is going for with this launch. With Venu no longer in the picture, Fox’s streaming service could simply be a steppingstone for the company to become an arms dealer, and license or bundle its content with larger, more established streaming services.

It’s unlikely the value here is simply in selling its own content direct-to-consumer. It’s having a platform to work into other company’s offerings.

Murdoch’s suggestion that the streaming service will launch by the end of the calendar year means that Fox’s streamer will become available right around the time ESPN plans to launch its direct-to-consumer “Flagship” service. Could there be a partnership there? Time will tell.

But by year’s end, almost every linear network of note will be available for purchase without a traditional pay TV subscription. And that alone is significant.