Fox Takes Small Step Into Streaming Arena Without Joining Wars

Fox’s sports streaming strategy is now becoming much clearer.

The network introduced Fox One, its planned subscription-based, direct-to-consumer streaming service that will include live content from Fox Sports and Fox News, as well as entertainment programming. In addition to the flagship broadcast networks, other Fox sports programming that will be part of Fox One will include FS1, FS2, and the Big Ten Network. 

The Fox effort is set to debut ahead of the 2025 pro and college football seasons, a timing very similar to what ESPN projects for its forthcoming DTC effort. 

Fox first disclosed in February its intent to create the streaming service, but now, bearing a name, the plans are beginning to crystallize, particularly as the company has been less active in the ongoing streaming wars. The service will also be made available to existing Fox television subscribers as the company still seeks to protect the linear bundle. Pricing for Fox One hasn’t been announced, but it will be “in line with our wholesale pricing” to linear distributors. 

“Fox One is designed to reach outside the pay-TV bundle and deliver all the best Fox-branded content directly to viewers wherever they are,” said Fox One CEO Pete Distad. 

The Fox One development stands alongside the network’s ad-supported Tubi, which doesn’t often show sports, but made a notable exception in February for Super Bowl LIX, helping fuel a record-setting audience. The arrival of Fox One also follows the prior demise of Venu Sports, involving Fox along with ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery. 

NFL Drop

Fox, meanwhile, made a separate Monday announcement of a late-season Saturday doubleheader after securing a pair of new exclusive broadcast windows. On Dec. 20, the network will show an Eagles-Commanders matchup, as well as a Packers-Bears clash, with the pair of games leaning in to two of the league’s top division rivalries. The Saturday games, arriving after the end of the college football regular season, in part, represent the NFL taking further advantage of openings in the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. 

A similar loophole created the opening for the NFL to play again in Brazil on a Friday in early September. Those four teams could also be part of an expanded Christmas slate in 2025. 

The game reveals follow NBC Sports’s prior announcement Monday of a Sept. 4 kickoff contest between the defending champion Eagles and division rival Cowboys.

Broader Financials

Fox, meanwhile, said it grew its fiscal third-quarter revenue 27% to $4.37 billion, while net income fell by roughly half from a comparable $704 million to $354 million, and free cash flow reached a company record level. The historic Super Bowl audience, averaging 127.7 million, was credited as part of the robust period.

“Engagement at Fox Sports is unmatched in the industry, especially after a solid NFL postseason,” said Fox executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch in an earnings call with analysts. “While the sports calendar in our fiscal fourth quarter tends to be quieter, we see strong audience and advertiser demand for our schedule, including NASCAR, the inaugural season of IndyCar on Fox, and the start of baseball season.”