- Fox Corp is launching a streaming service before the end of the year. Content will be drawn from Fox News and Fox Sports. The company says it is not trying to steal customers away from cable operators.
The streaming space is about to get more crowded.
Fox Corp. plans to launch a direct-to-consumer subscription service that will incorporate content from both Fox News and Fox Sports. It’s expected to launch before the end of the year.
The move could potentially put Fox at odds with its cable partners, which rely on those channels to boost their audience. Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch attempted to soothe any conflict in his comments to analysts in an earnings call Tuesday.
“We see the traditional cable bundle as still the most value for our consumers, and then frankly, the most value for the company,” he said. “Having said that, we do want to reach consumers wherever they are, and there’s a large population, obviously, that are now outside of the traditional cable bundle, either cord cutters or cord nevers… We are designing an offering to really target those cord-cutters and cord-nevers that are not traditionally in the cable bundle.”
Murdoch said Fox isn’t hoping to woo away cable customers with the direct to consumer offering, adding that “our subscriber expectations will be modest and we’re going to price the service accordingly.”
Details about what the service would offer were scant. It’s unclear how much live sports programming will be offered.
Fox already offers a streaming service, called Fox Nation, which carries Fox News content as well as some original programming. The announcement of the new service comes after the launch of CNBC+. That service, which only allows people to watch the network without any extras, has not been marketed extensively, nor heavily promoted on the network’s website, but is already reportedly bringing in as many subscribers as two heavily promoted subscription products.