Fubo Wins Preliminary Injunction Against Venu Sports

Fubo has secured a preliminary injunction from a New York court against Venu Sports, the upcoming joint venture from The Walt Disney Company, Fox Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery.

FuboTV, a sports-centric live streaming service in the U.S., filed litigation against the new sports JV shortly after it was announced earlier this year. “When it comes to live sports programming, the JV defendants dominate,” said the order by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret M. Garnett. “Together, they own over 60 percent of the telecast rights to nationally broadcast live sports, and an even larger share of the most-watched sports like football and basketball and the most-watched events like playoff or championship games. Fubo, like all other TV distributors, must therefore contract with one or more of the JV defendants if they want to offer customers even the most basic array of live sports content. But Fubo claims that its original goal of providing a streaming service focused on live sports has been hampered or thwarted by restrictive terms in the contracts with the television programming networks, including the JV defendants.”

Among Fubo’s claims is that it is required to pay for sports it does not want in order to access must-have content as part of broader bundling practices across the ecosystem. The defendants maintain that the venture will not consolidate the owners’ market power, as their networks are still being licensed to other operators.

The court order has found that the JV presents anti-trust problems. “If the JV is allowed to launch, it will be the only option on the market for those television consumers who want to spend their money on multiple live sports channels they love to watch, but not on superfluous entertainment channels they do not.” It adds, “The multi-year monopolistic runway they have created for themselves will provide powerful incentives to thwart competition and hike prices on both consumers and other distributors. But even if the JV defendants swear that such price-hiking and competition excluding will not actually occur (though, as discussed below, there is good reason to believe that it will), one purpose of antitrust injunctions is to prevent anticompetitive incentives from forming in the first place so that American consumers do not have to simply take their word for it and hope for the best.”

David Gandler, co-founder and CEO of Fubo, commented: “Today’s ruling is a victory not only for Fubo but also for consumers. This decision will help ensure that consumers have access to a more competitive marketplace with multiple sports streaming options. But our fight continues. Fubo has said all along that we seek equal treatment from these media giants and a level playing field in our industry. The proposed joint venture was only the latest example of anticompetitive practices that The Walt Disney Company, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery have consistently engaged in for many years. We believe these practices monopolize the market, stifle competition and cheat consumers from deserved choice. A fair and competitive marketplace is necessary to provide consumers with multiple, robust and more affordable sports streaming options. We will continue to fight for fairness and for what’s best for consumers.”

Fubo is also moving forward with its antitrust lawsuit against the JV owners. A court date for the antitrust lawsuit has not yet been announced.