DirecTV Pitching Venu Partners Its Skinny Genre Bundle Approach

DirecTV is using the Venu sports streaming joint venture as a model to push for linear skinny programming bundles in other genres. Programmers and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) have "an ocean of opportunity" for creating content packages around genres from entertainment to children's programming, akin to Venu's sports focus, Chief Content Officer Rob Thun told us Wednesday. "If they believe any of their own projections [for Venu], why wouldn't they embark upon this?"

Channel bundling came under fire in the temporary injunction a federal court last week awarded FuboTV, blocking the planned launch of the ESPN/Fox Sports/Warner Bros. Discovery sports streaming joint venture (see 2408190032). That preliminary injunction said forced bundling practices were bad for consumers (see 2408190032).

DirecTV likely sees a moment of advantage where the JV partners, which are major programmers, have compromised their position, MoffettNathanson's Craig Moffett told us. Other MVPDs might wade into the issue to further underscore the point, he said. The programmers are likely "beside themselves now and asking whether they have made a catastrophic blunder." A worst-case scenario would have the court unwind the entire bundling model for all programmers, he said.

The DirecTV-programmer skinny bundle model would offer genre-based programming packages rather than an extensive lineup of channels that customers often don't want. In addition, it would feature an aggregated experience that lets users pay for programming through one platform and one portal for content instead of multiple entry points, Thun blogged Wednesday.

Thun told us Disney/Fox/WBD projections for sports likely indicate there are large markets for news, kids and family content, too. These and other genres could be tackled with genre-specific packages. He said partnering with MVPDs like DirecTV would address the antitrust concerns Venu raises. "The next best plan would be to use distributors to go lap up that market," Thun said. "So, I think their behavior is going to be really telling about what their intent was. It was either to be this collusive antitrust engine to really torpedo pay TV, or they really are trying to lap up that void in the marketplace."

DirecTV has been emphasizing the need for skinny, genre-centric bundles for years, and programmer-generated data about Venu's expected returns illustrates that there is subscriber demand, Thun said. "So, let's go attack it together." He said DirecTV has pitched skinny genre bundles for months with Disney, Fox and WBD. Moreover, DirecTV wants the participation of programmers beyond those three. The three Venu JV partners didn't comment Wednesday.

"Programmers opened Pandora's Box in proposing Venu," Moffett said. The JV partners "did for themselves exactly what they have said for two decades they would never do for anyone else," which is create a sports-only bundle. "It's head-spinning" that programmers wouldn't see Venu as an obvious antitrust violation as it goes contrary to the terms they have insisted on from third parties for decades, Moffett said.