Pricing has been revealed for the Venu Sports online video subscription service offering coverage from ESPN, FOX, and Warner Bros Discovery. The launch offer will be $42.99 a month. There will be a free trial available for seven days. Anyone signing up at the launch price will be able to receive the service at that price for 12 months. That suggests the price of the package may be expected to rise in the future, if other online video subscription services are anything to go by.
The Venu Sports service is aimed at sports fans that do not take the traditional pay television bundle, for which live sports has been a key component.
Launching in the United States in the autumn, Venu will have 14 live sports channels and will offer thousands of live sports events from all the major professional sports leagues and top college conferences.
Subscribers to Venu will have access to linear sports networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV, as well as ESPN+.
The monthly subscription is less than for multichannel online services like YouTube TV, Fubo, Sling, or DirecTV and most cable options with similar channels, but it is still missing networks like CBS and NBC, or regional sports networks.
Venu promises live and on demand coverage of major sports leagues, including the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, WNBA, NCAA Division I football and basketball, soccer, tennis, golf, INDYCAR, NASCAR and F1 motor racing.
“With an impressive portfolio of sports programming, Venu will provide sports fans in the U.S. with a single destination for watching many of the most sought-after games and events,” said Venu chief executive Pete Distad.
“We’re building Venu from the ground up for fans who want seamless access to watch the sports they love, and we will launch at a compelling price point that will appeal to the cord cutter and cord never fans currently not served by existing pay TV packages.”