Here's everything you need to know about the world of television for Thursday, January 9th, 2025:
VENU SPORTS, WE HARDLY KNEW YE
It was too early on a Friday to be considered a news dump, but Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney announced this morning they have decided not to move forward with the launch of the sports-centric streamer Venu Sports.
This decision is a costly one for the three media companies. They reportedly have spent a collection $200 million preparing the service for launch, along with an equal amount to buy off rival sports streamer Fubo TV.
I suspect you could write a business school tell-all book laying out what went wrong over the past year. But at the end of the day, this failure all came down to hubris.
Executives at the three media companies apparently believed they could cut themselves a sweetheart deal that would allow them to license their sports content as well as sports-connected linear channels without making the same package available to rivals. And that led Fubo TV to file a lawsuit against the companies and win an injunction to postpone the launch of Venu.
That lawsuit was resolved earlier this week when the three media companies just threw a lot of money at the problem. But with Direct TV/Echostar now promising to file a similar lawsuit, the likely extended delay of the service's launch made the process problematic.
ANOTHER HARD-HITTING PIECE OF JOURNALISM FROM VARIETY
TWEET OF THE DAY
WHAT'S NEW TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
FRIDAY, JANUARY 10TH, 2025:
Ad Vitam (Netflix) - (first look video)
Alpha Males Season Three Premiere (Netflix)
Bill Maher: Is Anyone Else Seeing This? (HBO)
Black Warrant Series Premiere (Netflix)
Farmagia Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
Goosebumps Season Two (Disney+) - (first look video)
I May Be A Guild Receptionist, But I'll Solo Any Boss To Clock Out On Time Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
My Best Friend's An Animal Season Premiere (NatGeo)
My Fatal Social Following (LMN)
The Apothecary Diaries (Crunchyroll)
Welcome To Japan, Ms. Elf! Series Premiere (Crunchyroll)
SEE YOU ON MONDAY!