Some Fubo Users Will Get ESPN Unlimited Sports in Fubo App – Why Not Everyone?

Hot on the heels of a shareholder vote that clears the way for a merger with Hulu + Live TV, Fubo is further blurring the lines with its soon-to-be-parent-company, Disney. If you subscribe to the new Fubo Sports + News plan, you’ll be able to search for and play ESPN Unlimited sports within the Fubo app.

This option is not available for Fubo subscribers with the Pro or Elite plans.

You may remember, Fubo Sports + News is only available in select areas. The company is planning to add more in time.

How Does This Work?

Just go to the Sports screen or search for a specific matchup. The ESPN Unlimited games are signified with “ESPN+.”

You can also find ESPN original programming like documentaries and more by searching “ESPN+.“

Why Don’t Pro and Elite Have This Feature?

Fubo didn’t say why Pro and Elite are missing the ESPN Unlimited integration, but here’s my best guess.

We know that Disney is buying a majority of Fubo as part of their crusade to wipe out the competitor that blocked its planned Venu Sports streaming project. We also know that Disney is shutting down the standalone Hulu app.

All of this would seem to suggest Hulu + Live TV is going away.

But… the companies have repeatedly said Hulu + Live TV will still be available after the Fubo acquisition. So what gives?

A clue may be the fact that Fubo changed the name of its least expensive plan from “Fubo Sports” to “Fubo Sports + News.” In the streaming world, that “+” sign was pioneered by the launch of Disney+ and quickly became the lazy go-to for every streaming service. But every other streaming service that uses the “+” tacks it on the end of the name… every service except Hulu + Live TV.

So “Fubo” could become the name for Disney’s designated sports and news streaming service, while the Hulu name could somehow refer to sports, news, and entertainment. It won’t make sense for Fubo and Hulu + Live TV to be true competitors after the merger, so it’s likely that they simply offer different channel lineups.

In that world, Fubo Pro and Elite could go away. We’re likely to see the final configuration look more like DIRECTV with multiple price points and channel groups. Disney could rename all its live TV services some variation of “Fubo,” or it could dump the Fubo and Hulu brands altogether when it comes to live TV and come up with something else.

I could be wrong, but when a service deliberately omits features from specific parts of its infrastructure, it’s usually because those neglected parts are going to be shut down. There doesn’t seem to be any other good reason to leave the ESPN Unlimited integration out of Pro and Elite.

Fun Screenshot Easter Egg

On Fubo’s help page, they include a screenshot they probably didn’t intend to make public. When showing how to activate the ESPN Unlimited benefit, they included a screenshot referring to “existing Raptor subscribers.” As revealed in the preliminary injunction that put the brakes on Venu Sports, “Raptor” was the internal code name for Venu.