Well, that was fast.  In a move that shocked approximately no one who’s been following the messy world of sports streaming, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox announced they’re pulling the plug on Venu Sports… their highly anticipated (and now dead) joint venture to win over cord-cutters and cord-nevers. You know, the mythical creatures who’ve never paid for cable but still want live sports. Turns out they’re not so easy to woo.

Back in February, Disney, WBD, and Fox decided to team up like the Avengers (minus any actual heroes) to create a one-stop shop for sports streaming. The plan was kinda simple: combine ESPN, Fox’s sports rights, and WBD’s TNT games into a single platform priced at $42.99/month. The target? All those cord-cutters who ditched cable but still wanted to watch the NFL, NBA, and MLB without hunting down 17 different apps. Sounds good on paper, right? But like most “sounds-good-on-paper” ideas, it quickly spiraled into chaos.

Enter FuboTV… the weird underdog of streaming platforms. Fubo took one look at Venu and screamed, “Antitrust!” They sued, claiming the Big Three were hogging sports rights like my kids refusing to share their toys. Somehow, the U.S. Justice Department and 16 states agreed with Fubo.

Even when Disney settled with Fubo earlier this week (as part of a deal to merge Fubo with Hulu + Live TV), other players like DirecTV and Dish were ready to pick up the antitrust torch. It was clear that no amount of legal wrangling was going to make Venu’s problems disappear.

Then, on Thursday, after realizing they were bleeding time and resources, Disney, Fox, and WBD collectively decided to yank the cord on Venu. In a statement that read like a teenage breakup text, they said: “After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service.” Basically:  “We’re over the stress, and we’re just gonna stick to what we’re already doing.”

Predictably, the market had a knee jerk reaction. Warner Bros. Discovery stock dropped 4.6%, Fox fell 2%, and Disney slipped 1.5%. And, Fubo’s shares rose 1% because nothing says “victory” like watching your competition self-destruct.

Analysts weren’t kind, either. Ross Benes of Emarketer compared Venu to Quibi and CNN+, noting its short, doomed existence: “Even when frenemies agree to work together, legal and logistical issues can be too much to overcome.”

So, What went wrong? To start, the $42.99 price point felt steep in a world where Netflix is limping along at $15.99, and even ESPN+ costs just $10. Add in the antitrust lawsuits and the Herculean task of merging three massive companies’ live sports rights, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

Also, historically… collaboration isn’t exactly Hollywood’s strong suit. Sure, these companies claimed to be “teaming up,” but it was more like a dysfunctional group project where everyone wanted credit but no one wanted to do the work.

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Stock.News has positions in Disney, Warner Bros., Fubo, Netflix, and Fox mentioned in article.