Pause in Venu Live Sports Broadcasts - Understanding the Temporary Suspension

Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox have been working on a new sports streaming service called Venu Sports. Those plans are now on hold, as a federal judge has paused the service’s launch with an injunction in favor of Fubo TV.

Venu Sports was announced as a streaming service with access to many live sports channels, including ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, Fox, FS1, TNT, TBS, and others, with initial pricing of $42.99 per month. Venu Sports also planned to include on-demand content from the three company’s libraries (like ESPN’s 30 for 30). It could potentially allow many people to drop their traditional TV packages, since live sports coverage is one of the few remaining reasons to pay for TV over streaming services.

Fubo TV, a TV streaming service primarily targeted at sports streaming, launched a lawsuit immediately after Venu Sports was announced. Fubo accused the service of violating antitrust law, stating that Disney, Fox, and Warner already charge Fubo “as much as 30%-50%+ higher than rates they charge other distributors” for access to channels. The companies also force Fubo to include non-sports channels in packages intended for watching sports. A theoretical Venu Sports service wouldn’t have to pass on those extra distribution costs to customers, undercutting Fubo and other similar TV services.

United States District Judge Margaret M. Garnett granted an injunction in Fubo’s favor, preventing Venu Sports from launching, at least temporarily. The statement explains, “if the JV [the Venu Sports joint venture] 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. And the JV’s corporate owners—the JV Defendants—are the same players that used their longstanding bundling practices to create the void in the pay TV market tailor-made for the live-sports-only JV to fill, and also exercise near-monopolistic control over the ability for a different live-sports-only streaming service to exist and compete with the JV.”

Fubo celebrated the injunction, saying in a press release, “Fubo’s goal is to ensure a competitive sports streaming marketplace that offers consumers choice, affordable pricing, flexibility and innovation. All distributors should have the opportunity to compete in a fair market, according to Fubo.”

This is only a temporary injunction, and Fubo’s lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and Warner is still ongoing with no confirmed court date.

Source: Fubo , Court Listener , The Verge

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