Here’s another big bet that the future of TV is small: FuboTV, a startup that sells a “skinny bundle” of TV channels over the internet, is raising another $55 million.
FuboTV has raised $55 million for its ‘skinny bundle’ online TV service
Scripps, which will add its channels to the service, is a new investor.
FuboTV
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.
This round is led by Northzone and Scripps Network Interactive, which will add its programming to Fubo’s service in the coming weeks. Existing investors, including 21st Century Fox and Sky, also participated. Fubo has raised more than $75 million so far.
Fubo is one of several companies, including Hulu and YouTube, selling a few dozen channels (or more) over the internet. The premise is that the slimmed-down packages will appeal to people who already have cable TV but want to pay less, or to “cord nevers” who have yet to sign up for traditional pay TV.
The newest version of this may be a non-sports bundle, led by programmers like Viacom, that could show up sometime this year, priced at $20 a month or less. In contrast, Fubo plays up all the sports available in its service, including offerings from Fox and NBCUniversal (but not ESPN).
It’s easy to understand why traditional TV networks, and their new online distributors, think these packages are a good idea. It’s unclear whether there is significant demand from consumers.
FuboTV CEO David Gandler, who said an earlier, cheaper, soccer-centric version of his service had signed up close to 100,000 subscribers, hasn’t released numbers for the new service, which launched earlier this year.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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