Venu Sports announced, NFL do deal with Netflix as streaming enters US sports market

A new sports streaming-service has been officially named, while the NFL have received a streaming Christmas gift. SHANNON GILL reports on another week where the US sports rights landscape has changed and what the Australian implications are.

Streaming services are changing the way US sports are watched. Picture: David Eulitt/Getty Images/AFP

Back in February, 2024 was tipped to be the year streaming became a major player in sports rights.

This week the naming of the US’s sports-only streaming service and the NFL selling its Christmas Day games to Netflix for the next three years confirm that tip as correct.

For the NFL and Netflix it will mean a double header featuring the Taylor Swift-supporting Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers, along with the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans matchup this Christmas. Reports price the games at $75 million each and the deal provides for at least one Christmas Day game in the following two years.

Meanwhile, the Fox, Disney (which includes ESPN) and Warner Brothers/Discovery joint sports streaming service venture announced overnight would be called ‘Venu’, with kick-off expected later in the year.

The new CEO of Venu Sports, Pete Distad, called it “a brand that we feel captures the spirit of an all-new streaming home where sports fans outside of the traditional pay TV ecosystem can experience an incredible collection of live sports, all in one place.”

Of course Australia is already ahead of the curve on this one.

In lay terms, Venu Sports is the US version of Foxtel’s Kayo Sports, which brings together a wide sports selection on one streaming platform here in Australia.

Kayo Sports is proving that Australians see streaming as a natural home for sport. Picture: John Appleyard

Kayo’s market presence and Australian viewing habits suggest that streaming is the future for sports broadcasting on these shores.

However last month a Federal Government review of 30 year-old anti-siphoning laws decreed that streaming services would be treated the same as pay-tv was back in the 1990s, in that steamers would now be locked out of bidding for exclusivity on some of Australia’s biggest sporting events.

This has been a blow to sports organisations who hoped to extract full value of their rights like their US peers.

The full effect of the new streaming landscape in the US promises to be shown in a new NBA rights deal that is currently being thrashed out.

In basic terms it seems likely that the NBA will go from having two rights packages (one pay-tv, one network television) in addition to their own NBA TV product, to three packages that will include a streamer.

The hot tip is that ESPN will remain (while also streaming games on the new Venu Sports service) and Amazon will come in as a new streamer. Uncertainty remains over whether incumbent Warner Brothers’ Turner Sports (TNT) or NBC will take the other package.

ESPN’s involvement would mean that in Australia Kayo and Foxtel would likely remain the go-to all sports service for NBA fans. The Amazon move may provide additional games to Australian eyeballs that don’t subscribe to the league service, pending how the global rights are structured.

A new NBA broadcast rights deal is tipped to see streaming play a major role. Picture: Michael Reaves/Getty Images/AFP

From an Australian NFL fan’s point of view, people wanting a football fix on Boxing Day will need to switch to Netflix, yet NFL-watching habits here won’t change dramatically from the status quo of ESPN (Foxtel/Kayo), Channel Seven or the NFL’s own Network beyond the single day of December 26.

Nevertheless, the NFL’s Christmas party will be the first major league live sport to appear on Netflix in the US and Australia and the words from Netflix suggest it won’t be the last.

“Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more,” Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria said upon the announcement.

“There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts.”

Originally published as Venu Sports announced, NFL do deal with Netflix as streaming enters US sports market