Venu Sports announced as brand for ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery joint sports streaming service

The joint sports streaming venture from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery announced the brand name for the service on Thursday.

The platform, which will combine the sports programming from ESPN, Fox Sports and TNT, will be called Venu Sports, as revealed by Pete Distad, the venture’s CEO. (Sympathies to those who might have become attached to “Spulu,” the name some fans coined when this “Hulu for Sports” venture was announced.)

The joint service was originally announced in February and is targeting a fall launch. (An antitrust lawsuit by FuboTV could affect that.) Venu Sports will include ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+, offering viewers a variety of NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and college sports content.

With those networks, Venu will offer NFL and MLB coverage through Fox and ESPN and NHL with TNT and ABC/ESPN. (The NFL was reportedly unhappy about the venture when it was announced in February.) Big Ten football games will be available through Fox, and ESPN has rights to SEC football.

NBA and WNBA games will be broadcast through ESPN/ABC, as will NCAA men’s and women’s basketball telecasts. Fox and FS1 also televise several men’s and women’s college basketball matchups throughout the season.

However, if TNT loses NBA media rights, as has been rumored, that could affect the value of the package.

Venu Sports did not include the price of the service in its announcement. It will also be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subscribers as part of a bundle. Overall, the platform should present the most competitive option and a less expensive package than cable for viewers who want primarily sports television.

Yet without CBS and NBC, fans wouldn’t get the NFL broadcasts those networks offer, at a time when games are being increasingly spread out among services including Amazon and Netflix. Fans of the NCAA basketball tournaments and Olympics would also miss those sports on Venu.

“We are excited to officially introduce Venu Sports, a brand that we feel captures the spirit of an all-new streaming home where sports fans outside of the traditional pay TV eco-system can experience an incredible collection of live sports, all in one place,” Distad said in a statement.

“As preparations for the platform continue to accelerate, we are singularly focused on delivering a best-in-class product for our target audience,” he added, “built from the ground up using the latest technologies to engage and entertain discerning sports fans wanting one-stop access to live games.”

Updates on upcoming news and information regarding Venu Sports can be found at www.venu.com.