Versant is making its first major push into the free streaming television market, positioning Fandango as a competitor to services like Tubi and PlutoTV—with live sports expected to play a central role.
The first major sports move was the recent announcement that Bundesliga matches would begin airing on the streaming service this year. The agreement is part of a five-year deal worth $20 million per year with USA Sports, which will see 30 games per season air on USA Network and the remainder on Fandango.
The move has caused some confusion because “Fandango” now refers to both the well-known movie ticketing platform and the company’s free streaming service. The streaming service launched as Vudu in 2004 before being acquired by Walmart in 2010 and purchased by Fandango in 2020. The service rebranded as Fandango at Home in 2024 before shortening its name to simply Fandango this month.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Versant will launch a marketing campaign with the tagline “We Love Free” to promote the service. More sports are also expected to be added soon.
Notably, Bundesliga appears to be on the higher end of the types of sports that typically air on competitors like Tubi, PlutoTV, and Roku. While Tubi has aired simulcasts of premium Fox Sports programming, such as NFL and World Cup games, most of its sports offerings consist of lower-profile soccer competitions and World Baseball Classic games. Roku has similar niche sports offerings, including the NBA G League, professional volleyball, and the X Games, though it did briefly air live MLB Sunday Leadoff games. PlutoTV airs live events from Professional Bull Riders and previously had an agreement with the Big Sky Conference.
Fandango, through Versant’s USA Sports division, has some interesting sports it can tap into. Golf Channel has a large portfolio of golf tournaments, including more niche offerings from the PGA Tour Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, and DP World Tour, that could be good fits for the service. Many of these events are currently available only through the Golf Channel website, though they require authentication with a cable provider.
Fandango may not be the place for more premium offerings just yet, however. Cable TV still represents a key part of Versant’s business.
“We definitely have obligations to our pay-TV ecosystem, but I also think that windowing is really going to be where we use our strategy to the fullest,” Versant president of entertainment Val Boreland told The Hollywood Reporter. “Not everything needs to be on Fandango right away, but it does need to be there at some point. We’re also not precious about it living on a third-party platform as well.”
For those pay-TV obligations, most major sports divisions have launched paid direct-to-consumer streaming services. The services are priced to appeal to cord-cutters but not offer enough value for people still in the cable bundle to leave. This free streaming service is not that, so don’t expect more premium USA Network and Golf Channel rights, like the WNBA, PGA Tour, and Premier League, to move to Fandango quite yet.
About Manny Soloway
Manny Soloway is a Iowa based writer focusing on TV ratings. He is also the founder of the TV Media Blog substack.