Another sign that sports on TV is moving to sports on the Web: TV giants 21st Century Fox and Sky are investing in FuboTV, a small but growing video subscription service focused on soccer.
Another Vote for Sports on the Web: Fox, Sky Invest in Streaming Soccer Startup FuboTV
The service, which launched in 2015, boasts 40,000 subscribers paying $10 a month.
Juan Manuel Serrano Arce via BeIn Sports
Peter Kafka covered media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.
Corporate cousins Fox and Sky are each putting in $6 million as part of a $15 million B round; other investors include DCM Ventures, Luminari Capital, LionTree Partners and former NBA Commissioner David Stern. The company has raised $21 million to date.
FuboTV launched a little more than a year ago and now says it has more than 40,000 subscribers paying $10 a month to watch a variety of live and taped games, which come from TV networks like Univision Networks and beIN Sports.
Right now, FuboTV offers subscribers a mix of games from leagues like Spain’s La Liga and the MLS in the U.S., but it doesn’t have access to some of the most sought-after soccer programming, like the U.K.’s Premier League or Europe’s UEFA Champions League.
It’s possible some of that stuff may become available down the road, via its new investors; Sky, for instance, has Premier League rights in the U.K., and Fox has UEFA in the U.S. Per the press release announcing the deal: “Neither 21st Century Fox nor Sky are currently licensing content to FuboTV, but both companies intend to work closely with FuboTV as it continues to grow.”
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
