FuboTV has sued The Walt Disney Company, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery seeking to block a joint venture between the three companies for a sports platform. It alleges that there are antitrust issues with the three media companies coming together for the joint streaming platform. FuboTV says that it is being forced to carry expensive non-sports channels as a condition for getting licensing sports rights from the three big companies.
The lawsuit was filed in New York federal court on Tuesday and alleges that the companies are leveraging their “iron grip on sports content to extract billions of dollars in supra-competitive profits.” This could lead to consumers to have to pay more for more popular sports offering. FuboTV also said that the companies are “restricted Fubo from offering compelling streaming products that consumers would find desirable, despite similar products being offered by other traditional pay TV and streaming services, including the Defendants’ own Hulu service.” FuboTV argues that the “joint venture is simply the latest coordinated step in the Defendants’ campaign to eliminate competition in the sports-first streaming market and capture this market for themselves.”
David Gandler, Co-founder and CEO, Fubo said, “Each of these companies has consistently engaged in anticompetitive practices that aim to monopolize the market, stifle any form of competition, create higher pricing for subscribers and cheat consumers from deserved choice. By joining together to exclusively reserve the rights to distribute a specialized live sports package, we believe these corporations are erecting insurmountable barriers that will effectively block any new competitors from entering the market. This strategy ensures that consumers desiring a dedicated sports channel lineup are left with no alternative but to subscribe to the Defendants’ joint venture.”
Gandler continued, saying, “We have previously collaborated with each of these companies so that we could offer ‘must-have’ sports content to Fubo customers. For many years, they have challenged our business at every opportunity through pernicious practices. While other new competitors were prevented from entering the market, Fubo has continuously fought back. The Defendants’ unconscionable practices have impacted our ability to grow and have deprived consumers of a compelling and competitively-priced product.”
He summed the entire venture by saying, ” this sports cartel blocked our playbook for many years and now they are effectively stealing it for themselves.”
“Fubo seeks equal treatment in terms of pricing and all relevant conditions from these media giants to ensure we can compete fairly for the benefit of consumers. Our customers deserve access to a competitively priced offering with innovative features designed by Fubo for an unparalleled sports viewing experience,” Gandler concluded.
FuboTV’s lawsuit seeks to “to enjoin the joint venture or, in the alternative, require the parties impose restrictions on the Defendants in order to proceed, such as economic parity of licensing terms and substantial damages from the Defendants.”
Representatives for the joint venture have not released a comment on this lawsuit at this time.
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