Fox News is one of the most viewed networks on traditional TV at the moment. Could we, however, be nearing the end of an era? Its parent company has said it’s prepared to move to stream should the PayTV business fail to perk up in the next few months. Entertainment attorney Brandon Blake, of Blake & Wang P.A, has some more on the story.
No Plans Yet
The move is not imminent, instead of existing as more of a threat. It’s interesting that it’s been mentioned now, however. Fox CFO Steve Tomsic was quick to reassure us that, for now, the networks’ news and sports assets will remain with linear Pay TV. However, they’re also prepared to move into streaming if the market doesn’t pick up ‘soon’. He was quick to point to their original programming, replays of shows, and possible reboots as fodder that could power the move into a direct-to-consumer space.
Starting with Tubi
It also seems that they want to start pushing ‘sport-adjacent’ programming onto Tubi, their existing free streaming platform, but don’t yet want to move the live games off of linear TV. They do, however, have the right to do so, at least for their NFL coverage.
For now, the sports side shores up the TV business, and they’ve made some moves into sports betting, too, with Fox Bet. It seems to be an arena they’re cautious to move too far into, however, aware of lessons from the UK and Australia. Here, sports betting content has failed to resonate with consumers and proved something of a turnoff.
While the mentions were very loose for now, the threat could be more real than we currently plan for. It’s unlikely that Fox will stay out of the more mainstream streaming market forever, right as the direct-to-consumer model is booming. Will we soon see the news network hit the streaming ‘airwaves’? The timeline remains to be seen, but that they’ve made the thread itself is telling.
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