Fubo achieved a victory in his antitrust lawsuit against Venu Sports, the joint streaming venture between Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, the company announced Friday. The live TV streaming service was granted a preliminary injunction by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, blocking the rollout of Venu. Fubo filed the lawsuit against the joint venture days after it was first announced in February.
First announced earlier this year, Venu was set to launch this fall with live and on-demand sports content from 15 different networks, including Disney’s ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNews, ESPN Plus and ABC; Fox’s Fox, FS1, FS2 and BTN; and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT, TBS and TruTV. The plan was to charge $43 per month for the service, which would offer fans live sports content from every major league (though not games aired on networks like NBC and CBS).
Fubo’s competing streaming TV service starts at $80 per month, though the package includes several regional sports networks, CBS and NBC, but no channels from Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT, TBS and TruTV).
Fubo CEO Dave Gandler acknowledged the victory and vowed to continue the fight in court. “Today’s ruling is not only a victory for Fubo, but also for consumers,” he said. “This decision will help ensure that consumers have access to a more competitive marketplace with multiple sports streaming options.”
ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery said in a joint statement after the ruling that they plan to appeal Friday’s order.
“We respectfully disagree with the court’s ruling and will appeal,” the companies said. “We believe Fubo’s arguments are flawed on the facts and law, and Fubo has failed to demonstrate that it is legally entitled to injunctive relief. Venu Sports is a pro-competitive option that aims to expand consumer choice by reaching a segment of viewers currently underserved by existing subscription options.”
Both sides have been arguing their case in recent days, with Fubo alleging that the larger three companies have for years “engaged in a long-standing pattern of thwarting Fubo’s sports-first streaming service by engaging in anti-competitive practices.” Fubo has accused the other parties of being anti-competitive by preventing the company from offering a lower-priced sports streaming package through allegedly unfair negotiations over mode of carriage. In its argument, the company also alleges that the WBD-Disney-FOX platform would influence consumer choice, potentially leading to further price increases.
Fubo rival DirecTV was also pleased with Friday’s ruling. In a statement, DirecTV’s chief communications officer Jon Greer said the company was “pleased with the court’s ruling and believes it rightly recognizes the potential harm of allowing major programmers to license their content to an affiliate distributor on more favorable terms than they would if they licensed their content to a third party.”
Fubo and DirecTV are among the live TV platforms, along with options like Sling TV and YouTube TV, that cord cutters are turning to for sports programming from traditional cable providers.
