A former Disney executive now running FuboTV singled out Fox News as a key driver of subscriber satisfaction during a quarterly earnings call, an endorsement that underscores the network's dominance while its cable rivals continue to lose ground.

Alisa Bowen, who took over as FuboTV's chief executive after Disney acquired the sports-focused streaming service in October, used her first earnings call in the role to highlight Fox News by name. Bowen told investors that the network's inclusion in Fubo's Sports + News package gives the company a competitive edge over YouTube TV's sports offering, the Daily Mail reported.

The comment landed during a broader discussion of Fubo's strategy around live programming, and it carried extra weight coming from a ten-year Disney veteran now steering a rival platform. In an industry where executives rarely name-check another company's product as a selling point, Bowen did exactly that.

Bowen names Fox News as a competitive advantage over YouTube TV

During Wednesday's call, Bowen laid out her case that live television and sports remain central to Fubo's business. She pointed to recent programming as proof of concept.

"This past quarter alone has shown that live events have a very unique ability to bring audiences together at scale, and we saw significant excitement and engagement around programming like the World Cup and the NBA Finals."

Bowen then turned to the package lineup. Fubo's Sports tier runs $55.99 per month and includes more than 20 sports and local broadcast channels, along with ESPN's unlimited offering. But when an analyst pressed on how the bundle stacks up against competitors, Bowen zeroed in on one channel that separates Fubo from the pack.

"Our package competes with a YouTube TV Sports package. For example, the Fox News component in our Sports package is something that's particularly valued by our subscriber base and is working well for us."

That is not the kind of language CEOs use casually on earnings calls. "Particularly valued" and "working well for us" are performance metrics dressed in plain English. Bowen was telling Wall Street that Fox News helps Fubo win and keep customers.

She also emphasized the flexibility of Fubo's tiered approach, telling investors the company can adjust its offerings around the sports calendar and business cycles. Fox News, in that framework, is not filler, it is a year-round draw that holds subscribers between marquee sporting events.

2.7 million primetime viewers put Fox News ahead of every broadcast network

The CEO's praise tracks with Fox News's raw audience numbers. During the week of July 27th, Fox News averaged 2.7 million weekday primetime viewers, more than NBC, ABC, or CBS drew individually. That figure also exceeded CNN and MSNBC's combined primetime audience for the same period.

Those numbers reflect a long-running pattern. CNN and MSNBC have both seen significant ratings declines over the past decade, while Fox News has held or grown its audience. The gap has widened enough that a streaming CEO now treats Fox News's presence in a bundle as a selling point worth flagging for shareholders.

Fox News has remained a fixture in conservative media and in broader political conversations. The network's anchors have pressed Republican leaders on policy while also serving as a platform where figures from across the aisle occasionally make headlines, as when Senator John Fetterman appeared on the network to defend Trump, drawing fury from his own party.

A Disney veteran bets on live TV, and Fox News fills the gap

Bowen's background adds an interesting layer. She spent a decade at Disney before stepping into the CEO role at Fubo following Disney's acquisition of the company. Her first earnings call could have been a safe, corporate-speak affair. Instead, she went out of her way to credit a specific channel, one that competes for attention with Disney's own ESPN, as a subscriber magnet.

She framed the broader strategy around live programming's staying power in a streaming landscape dominated by on-demand content.

"We do have an obligation to make sure that we're delivering the value that our subscribers are seeking, and that we have the flexibility to continue innovating as an industry, because consumers are demanding it."

Bowen also expressed confidence in Fubo's position, citing the company's technology, scale, and team as core advantages. But when it came time to name a specific piece of content that moves the needle, she chose Fox News, not a sports league, not a broadcast network, and not a rival cable news outlet.

The political dynamics around Fox News have remained intense. President Trump has publicly engaged with the network's anchors on coverage decisions, and the network continues to draw attention at major media events where Trump has sparred with the press.

None of that political heat has dented the business case. If anything, Bowen's comments suggest the opposite: Fox News's audience loyalty translates directly into subscriber retention for platforms that carry it, and platforms that don't offer it, like YouTube TV's sports tier, are at a disadvantage.

What Bowen's comments say about the cable news landscape

Earnings calls are exercises in careful language. Every word gets scrutinized by analysts, investors, and competitors. When a CEO singles out another company's product as "particularly valued," it is a data point, not a compliment.

Bowen was telling the market that Fox News drives measurable subscriber behavior, that people choose Fubo in part because it carries the channel, and that they stay because of it. For a streaming service built around sports, that is a remarkable admission about the power of a news network.

CNN and MSNBC, by contrast, went unmentioned as subscriber draws. Their combined primetime audience during the week of July 27th fell short of Fox News alone. No streaming CEO is building a sales pitch around carrying them.

The transcript of the full earnings call shows Bowen struck a confident tone throughout, but her Fox News remarks stood apart. They were specific, unsolicited, and aimed squarely at differentiating Fubo from its biggest competitor.

When even your competitor's former executive tells Wall Street your product is the one subscribers value most, the ratings war is not a war anymore. It is a rout.