Spulu Speaks! JV Says It Has a ‘Pro-Consumer’ Service for Underserved Viewers

Sports streaming joint venture
(Image credit: Championship Research)

Labeled as a “sports cartel” and “borderline racketeering,” among other pejoratives, by those who are suing the joint venture, as well as various other critics, the linear sports bundle being jointly launched by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. has largely remained quiet amid the slings and arrows. 

But that could be starting to change. 

On Thursday, the Penske showbiz trades reported that veteran Disney PR worker Jessica Casano-Antonellis will run communications for the as-yet-unnamed JV … which has been called “Spulu” by the press, perhaps in the absence of any corpcom pushback. 

Also on Thursday, after we wrote about a letter that Fubo sent to Congress — along with an oddly matched coalition of constituent backers that includes satellite TV companies Dish and DirecTV, the Electronic Frontiers Foundation and Newsmax — asking for a hearing on Spulu, we received this statement from the Fox corpcom team:

“The service is a pro-consumer offering to a segment of viewers who currently aren’t served. It will expand consumer choice by creating an incremental, nonexclusive option for this segment of viewers to watch their favorite sports.” 

Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!