Transcript:
Conway Gittens:
I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
Tech stocks kept their form on Monday with more AI reveals expected at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Blue chips, however, were wobbly. Investors await the latest updates on the strength of the services sector and job openings due Tuesday.
Related: Your streaming services are only getting more expensive
Turning to other business headlines, there's a shake-up in the streaming media world. Hulu + Live TV, which is owned by Disney, will merge with sports streaming start-up Fubo to create the second largest streaming pay TV operator. As part of the deal, Fubo will drop its antitrust lawsuit against Venu Sports, which has had its debut pushed back because of the legal fight. Venu Sports is a streaming joint venture between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
The combination of Hulu + Live TV and Fubo brings together 6.2 million streaming subscribers in North America, with roughly $6 billion in sales. Its biggest rival, Google’s YouTube, had more than 8 million subscribers last year when it last publicized those numbers.
So what does this mean for customers? The combined entity will be under the leadership of the Fubo executive team but will retain separate apps. If you subscribe to the Hulu on-demand service, you are left out of this deal. However, Hulu + Live TV will still be part of the Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+ streaming bundle.
In a statement Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler says “We are thrilled to collaborate with Disney,” adding “the combination enables us to deliver on our promise to provide consumers with greater choice and flexibility.”
The merger is expected to take up to a year and a half to complete.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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