The sport streaming service is dealing with a lack of live sport
American sport streaming service FuboTV is banking on news and entertainment content get it through the postponements to live sport.
With the coronavirus pandemic forcing the majority of sporting events to be postponed, the OTT service has taken steps to ensure that it continues to have content to show. The fact it largely hosts other channels on its platform also complicates matters.
Normally, FuboTV would be able to show NBA, NHL, and football leagues on its services in the USA, Canada, and Spain. However, that is not possible for the foreseeable future.
Front Office Sports reveals that the service will rely on news and entertainment content such as late night talk shows and reality TV, and FuboTV chief executive Davis Gandler added: “Obviously, we’ll reduce marketing spend just given the lack of new content on the sports and entertainment side, as I think even Hollywood has gone on hiatus at this point.”
“Coronavirus has affected all of society and every genre. So it’s something we all have to be patient with and, eventually, it will pass.”
When it comes to possible savings through rebates or future credits from distribution fees paid to network partners over unforeseen sports league cancellations, Gandler said: “I think, first of all, the channels have to figure out what they want to do with the leagues or primary stakeholders. We’ll obviously have those conversations”
“If anything does come down to our level, we’d be happy to share that with our customers.”
In the UK, sport broadcasters have largely announced that they are going to move towards showing repeats of earlier matches in the season alongside original content during the current hiatus.