MNTN CEO Weighs In on New Sports Streaming Partnership

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On Tuesday afternoon, the media world was shaken by a massive joint venture. ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox announced that they would be teaming up to launch a new sports streaming service.

This move consolidates the sports rights of all three services into one place, giving more incentive for fans to shell out some money for the service. But is this a good deal for the three companies who are looking to solidify their place in streaming? And what does this deal mean for the future of the industry? 

TheStreet spoke to Mark Douglas, CEO of advertising software company MNTN and Joe Favorito, Columbia University sports management professor — both were a little skeptical about the newly-announced venture.

“I think it’s more ‘see-where-this-is-going’ versus an amazing thing,” Favorito told TheStreet. 

Is this a good deal for the three companies?

This deal allows for three companies with tons of sports rights to combined their content into one DTC platform. This includes major sports like the NFL through ESPN and Fox, and the NBA through ESPN and Turner. But there are also some massive events on the PGA Tour, ATP and WTA Tour, and Formula 1 that will be on this service.

But Favorito and Douglas are both taking a wait-and-see approach because of the market’s fatigue for streaming services.

“I’m sure you have a lot of people just rolling your eyes saying, ‘Here comes another streaming bundle, what are we supposed to do now?” Favorito said.

For Douglas, he viewed Netflix’s recent deal with WWE as a “slam dunk” because the massive distribution and accessibility of Netflix gives more visibility to the product. But he doesn’t necessarily see a new motivation for consumers to sign up for this bundle nor for these companies to create one.

“I think it’s a toss up,” Douglas told TheStreet. “If you truly get a critical mass of exclusive games that matter to people, then you might be able to pull this off. But I think most sports subscriptions have not worked that well with the exception of like NFL Sunday package.”

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