While YouTube TV is currently the most popular live TV streaming service, boasting over 8 million subscribers as of early 2024, a new deal means its dominance is about to see a huge threat.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, two of its biggest competitors are about to team up in a deal that's apparently being confirmed officially very soon.
These rivals are Hulu with Live TV, Disney's cable-streaming offering, and Fubo, which began life as a sports streaming option but now focuses on cable channels, too.
THR's report states that these two live TV streaming services will be merged together if the deal goes through, although apparently Hulu and Fubo will still offer their platforms individually under separate names. There won't be one giant 'Fulu' or 'Hubo' platform, by the sounds of it.
While the details are still up in the air about the deal, it'll likely mean great things for Fubo and Hulu with Live TV subscribers if it passes.
For one, it'll likely mean that certain channels that are currently only available to one group of streamers, will now be available on the joint platform. For example in April 2024, Fubo lost access to plenty of Warner Bros. Discovery channels like Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, Food Network and Investigation Discovery. Hulu with Live TV still has this, so it seems likely that a successful merger would see Fubo streamers get access to this again.
Fubo has more channels than Hulu with Live TV overall, though, with over 280 on its top plan compared to Hulu's roughly 100. So current Hulu TV's subscribers could see their channel count multiply too.
The THR report suggests Fubo will be receiving millions from Disney, partly through a loan and partly through payment, which could see the streamer invest in its user interface, which fans often complain about.
These benefits are all hypothetical for now, but any attempt by Fubo and Disney to take on YouTube TV has to mean good things for subscribers: the two streaming services will naturally need to get more competitive to win over YouTube TV subscribers, be it by bolstering the channel list, reducing the price or improving the user experience.
Another aspect of this deal is that Venu Sport is back on the books. This sports streaming service bundle package was delayed due to an anti-competition injunction filed by Fubo, but it'll apparently be dropped if the deal goes through.
As mentioned before, Fubo and Disney are expected to announce the deal themselves soon, so we'll find out more then.
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