Shareholders for FuboTV Inc. (formerly the FaceBank Group) have approved a plan for The Walt Disney Company to acquire the sports-centric Fubo live streaming service to merge with its Hulu + Live TV business. The combined entity would be second in size only to YouTube TV among OTT TV providers and will operate under the Fubo name, with the Fubo team running the company and Disney owning a roughly 70 percent stake. Earlier this year, Fubo executives told investors that together Hulu and Fubo are expected to generate more than $6 billion in annual revenue.

Disney and Fubo announced their plans in January, and the deal is expected to be finalized later this year or in early 2026, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

“Fubo and Hulu + Live TV will continue to be available to consumers as separate offerings post-closing and will facilitate an enhanced choice of programming packages addressing a variety of consumer preferences at attractive price points,” according to the press release.

While “more robust services” may be coming in the long run, should the deal conclude, existing subscriptions for Hulu + Live TV and Fubo will remain unaffected for the time being: “both services will maintain their current offerings and pricing structures as they work out the deal,” reports Cord Cutters News.

“Fubo and Disney struck an agreement in January, after the company sued to block Venu Sports, a joint streaming venture between Disney’s ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corporation, alleging the agreement would prevent Fubo from carrying a small bundle of sports channels they wanted to include in a new service,” writes The Wall Street Journal.

This September, Fubo launched Fubo Sports, a “standalone streaming plan with 20-plus sports-centric channels, including access to ESPN Unlimited” for $56 monthly, Variety points out, adding that at launch the package will also include “local ABC, CBS and Fox owned-and-operated stations plus additional affiliates in select markets” in addition to Big 10 Network, CBS Sports Network, Fox News, NFL Network and others (though none from Warner Bros. Discovery or NBCUniversal).

“Competition in the streaming space is fierce,” notes Cord Cutters, calling the merger “a strategic move” to help Fubo “compete more effectively with other live TV streaming services like YouTube TV and Sling TV.”