Fubo Granted Injunction Stopping Launch of Venu Sports Streaming Service
It's been a contentious fight against the joint venture, with Fubo winning a big round on Friday.
- Though Kourtnee hasn't won any journalism awards yet, she's been a Netflix streaming subscriber since 2012 and knows the magic of its hidden codes.
Venu Sports may not be launching this fall after all.
Fubo gained a victory in its antitrust lawsuit against Venu Sports, the joint streaming venture from 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 in the Southern District of New York blocking Venu's rollout. Fubo filed suit against the joint venture days after it was initially announced in February.
First announced earlier this year, Venu was due 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. It planned to charge $43 per month for its service, which gave fans live sports content from all the major leagues (though it was without games that aired on networks like NBC and CBS).
Fubo's rival streaming television service starts at $80 per month, although its package has several regional sports networks, CBS and NBC but lacks channels from Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT, TBS and TruTV).
Fubo CEO Dave Gandler acknowledged the win and vowed to keep the fight going in court. "Today's ruling is a victory not only 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 following the ruling that they plan to appeal Friday's injunction.
"We respectfully disagree with the court's ruling and are appealing it," the companies said. "We believe that Fubo's arguments are wrong on the facts and the law, and that Fubo has failed to prove it is legally entitled to a preliminary injunction. Venu Sports is a pro-competitive option that aims to enhance consumer choice by reaching a segment of viewers who currently are not served by existing subscription options."
Both sides have been arguing their case over the past few days, with Fubo claiming the larger trio companies have for years, "engaged in a long-running pattern of stymying Fubo's sports-first streaming service by engaging in anti-competitive practices." Fubo has accused the other parties of being anti-competitive by hindering it from offering a lower-cost sports streaming package through alleged unfair carriage negotiations. In its argument, the company also claims the WBD-Disney-FOX platform would affect consumer choice which could lead to more price hikes.
Fubo-rival DirecTV was similarly happy with Friday's ruling. In a statement, Jon Greer, head of communications at DirecTV, said that the company was "pleased with the court decision and believes that it appropriately recognizes the potential harms of allowing major programmers to license their content to an affiliated distributor on more favorable terms than they license their content to third parties."
Fubo and DirecTV are among the live TV platforms, alongside options like Sling TV and YouTube TV, that cord-cutters turn to for sports programming from traditional cable options.