Fubo CEO David Gandler said the potential impact on the streamer’s business remains to be seen as new Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro prepares to take the reins of the entertainment giant in March.
“Disney is a very large company. It takes a lot of time for them to decide on what their priorities are going to be,” Gandler said when asked about D’Amaro’s appointment during Fubo’s first quarter earnings call on Tuesday. “From what I heard on the last earnings call, you know, Bob [Iger] was very focused on highlighting the fact that they are still working on their technology stack, unifying their platform into one app. So I don’t know what the impact will really be on us.”
Gandler added that Fubo is having conversations with various teams at Disney and that the board is “very focused on trying to make sure that we’re talking to the right people to really grow the business.”
“From my perspective, I don’t really see any changes in the short term, but obviously that’s yet to be determined,” he added.
In October, Disney acquired a 70% majority stake in Fubo, which was combined with the company’s Hulu + Live TV business. Fubo shareholders retain a 30% stake in the combined entity, which has a total of 6.2 million subscribers in North America. Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will remain available as separate services.
During its fiscal first quarter, Fubo saw total revenue rise 40% to $1.55 billion and its net loss shrink to $19.1 million from a loss of $38.6 million the year prior. When accounting for the Hulu + Live TV merger, pro-forma revenue grew 6% to $1.68 billion, while its net loss narrowed to $46.4 million, compared to a loss of $130.4 million a year ago.
“We believe there are meaningful opportunities ahead to unlock synergies and efficiencies that will support sustained growth and improved profitability,” Gandler said. “Since closing the Hulu live combination in late October, our priority has been execution to expand reach scale and monetization across all of our services and just a few months in, we are converting strategy into action.”
Fubo executives said that the company has nearly completed the first phase of its integration, with its ad tech set to go live on Disney’s server later this month. They also said the move would allow Fubo inventory to be sold alongside Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu and drive a “meaningful uplift in both CPM and fill rates.”
The second phase will focus on its offerings to the consumer. Fubo has reached a reseller and marketing agreement with ESPN to expand the reach and distribution of its services in the Disney ecosystem, subject to the negotiation of definitive agreements.
“We’ve experienced strong market traction for our well priced Fubo Sports service. It resonates with value oriented consumers and complements our broader content offering,” Gandler added. “[This opportunity] allow us to market Fubo Sports directly to a sport centric audience and drive subscriber growth more efficiently with meaningfully lower customer acquisition costs.”
Hulu + Live TV also launched a Spanish-language bundle in January. In the fiscal first quarter, Fubo saw a record high for subscribers on Fubo’s Latino product.
Stage three will focus on cost savings and applying “greater portfolio discipline” as it evaluates content that best supports flexible pricing and affordability as major distribution agreements for the Fubo and Hulu + Live TV come up for renewal.
“Our objective is to move towards market based pricing and penetration that reflects our combined increased scale in the near term,” Gandler said.
In addition to its integration with Hulu + Live TV, Gandler addressed the company’s continued programming blackout with NBCUniversal, which began back in November.
He said that discussions between the two companies were paused to allow for the Versant separation to be completed and claimed that Comcast “ceased its engagement in renewal discussions despite multiple outreach attempts” in early January.
“Comcast indicated that they are satisfied with their existing Hulu Live arrangement and do not intend to engage in renewal discussions on the Fubo side at this time, preferring to reengage closer to the Hulu live expiration,” Gandler said. “Given that most commercial terms have been largely aligned prior to the Versant spinoff, this position is very difficult to reconcile.”
He noted that the subscriber impact to date has been “modest” and better than Fubo’s expectations, which the company said reflects the “resilience of our sports-focused value proposition” and its decision to lower prices and supplement Fubo with Peacock.
“While we remain open to constructive engagement, we will review the role of the NBCU and Versant portfolios as we continue to evaluate content alignment for our 6 million-plus subscriber base,” Gandler concluded.
Executives also stated that the impact of the Disney-YouTube TV carriage dispute was “immaterial” to Fubo.
Looking ahead to 2026, Gandler said the company’s north star would be “simple growth” through “differentiated sports offerings, scale distribution partnerships and improved monetization, driving long term value for consumers and shareholders.”
Fubo also said it will execute a reverse stock split by the end of its fiscal second quarter to make it more accessible to a broader base of investors and will reduce the number of outstanding shares of its common stock to a level “better aligned with the company’s size and scope.”
Fubo shares fell 19% on Tuesday following the earnings announcement.
The post Fubo Doesn’t Foresee Short-Term Impact Under Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro: ‘To Be Determined’ appeared first on TheWrap.
