Ever since they announced the joint venture streaming service we now know as Venu Sports, the three owners (Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery) have been very cagey about details and specifics.
While only scant details about who is working on the service and what it will include have come out so far, one intrepid reporter appears to have discovered the app as it’s being developed.
Janko Roettgers, a reporter “focused on the intersection of tech and entertainment,” and whose work has appeared in The Verge, Variety, and Protocol, shared quite the scoop on his Lowpass newsletter last week. He seemingly discovered that the Venu Sports team has been developing a web-based app for “a popular smart TV platform” and “that app has been left publicly accessible on the web.”
He wasn’t able to suss out any information on the launch date or pricing, but he did discover some details about what kind of opportunities might be available to subscribers when it does launch.
Perusing the public-facing smart TV app, he noted that it appears Venu Sports intends to offer “DVR functionality for live events” and “multiview functionality to watch more than one game at the same time,” along with an extensive library of documentaries and sports-related talk shows.
Upon launching the app, he was greeted by a “For You” screen that included “Must Watch” events, an option to record individual games, a “My Library” row, league-specific hubs, and themed rows like “Gridiron Gang” that incorporate different shows and documentaries, and a tab for live sports. There was also a “Browse” tab that ran the sports gamut from football and basketball to esports and dog shows.
One notable feature he noticed was the ability to disable game scores to help viewers avoid spoilers if they don’t want to watch a game until later.
An aspect of the service that he didn’t notice but has been alluded to by Disney CEO Bob Iger is a potential version of SportsCenter that is customized to users’ sports allegiances.
Roettgers adds the all-important caveat that this is clearly a product in development and many of the things he saw could change or go away by the time Venu Sports launches. Even the designs he was able to get screenshots of could drastically change. He also notes that this app is just one aspect of Venu Sports, which will also include a website, mobile apps, and other different pieces of functionality.
All of that said, given how much effort the three companies have put into getting Venu Sports up and running in the face of legal threats and potential government action, it’s intriguing to get a sense, even preliminarily, of what it’s going to offer.
[Lowpass]
