FuboTV has initiated legal action against Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery, challenging their recent sports joint venture, asserting “extreme suppression of competition in the U.S. sports-focused streaming market,” according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by CNBC.
The joint venture, announced earlier this month, is set to launch this fall to provide viewers with a new avenue for accessing premier live sports. However, concerns linger about its pricing and structure.
The complaint alleges collusion among these horizontal competitors to create a joint venture that will detrimentally impact competition and consumers. The lawsuit also names Disney-owned ESPN and Hulu as defendants.
FuboTV CEO David Gandler stated, “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.”
FuboTV contends that Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros., with their significant control over live sports content in the U.S., imposed bundling requirements and “significantly above-market licensing fees” on FuboTV, leading to inflated prices for consumers.
The new joint venture, according to the lawsuit, allows the media companies to undercut those prices and evade the same channel restrictions, providing them with a competitive advantage. As of last week, concerns were raised in the traditional pay-TV market that the joint venture might increase cable TV cancellations, with analysts suggesting potential antitrust challenges.
