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Fubo Says Venu Sports Has an ‘Artificial Advantage,’ Avoids Competition

A new court filing arguing against a lifting of the injunction against Venu saw Fubo double down on its core arguments.

There haven’t been many updates in Fubo’s antitrust lawsuit against Venu Sports of late, but the case is still progressing. Currently, Venu’s backers Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery are appealing an injunction which is keeping the service from being sold to customers. Fubo filed some new documents on Monday as part of a response to Venu’s arguments in favor of lifting the injunction, repeating arguments that Venu would pull thousands of customers from Fubo and hurt competition in the marketplace.

Key Details:

  • Fubo says Disney, Fox and WBD have structured Venu specifically to avoid competition.
  • It cites an agreement by the three companies not to offer their sports channels in any new products for at least three years.
  • Venu’s originators continue to argue the service is pro-consumer and pro-competitive.

Monday’s court filings by Fubo don’t have a ton of new information in them, but they do show the company isn’t backing down an inch on its assertions that the Venu joint venture is a violation of American antitrust laws.

It says that Disney, Fox, and WBD have given Venu a huge advantage over other live TV streaming services by refusing to allow other streamers to cut specific channels out of some packages, or create special channel bundles focused around sports as Venu is. Venu would combine 14 sports channels from the three companies, as well as the content from ESPN+, but would not force sports fans to pay for non-sports channels.

The three companies “have structured the JV to avoid anything like competition on the merits. Its artificial advantage will capture hundreds of thousands of subscribers and tens of millions of dollars from Fubo alone, driving Fubo into insolvency, and destroying or damaging other distributors,” Fubo’s filing states.

The document also highlights what it says is essentially a “non-compete” agreement by the three companies, which says that none of them will allow the channels intended for Venu to be sold in other products for at least three years.

Monday’s filing was a response to Disney, Fox, and WBD’s arguments in favor of lifting the injunction against Venu. In September, the three companies advanced their claims that the service is pro-competition and that since Venu would be in direct competition with Fubo, they are under no obligation to allow it to sell skinnier channel bundles with only sports channels.

Venu’s backers hope to have the streamer available to viewers by January, in time for the NFL and college football postseasons. A ruling on whether the injunction will stay in place is expected sometime before the end of January.

Fubo

Fubo is a live TV streaming service with about 90 top channels that start at $79.99 per month. This plan includes local channels, 19 of the top 35 cable channels, and regional sports networks (RSNs). In total, you should expect to pay about $94.99 per month, after adding in their RSN Fee. Fubo was previously known as “fuboTV.”

The streaming service does not carry channels from WarnerMedia-owned (CNN, TBS, and TNT), A+E (A&E, History Channel, and Lifetime), and AMC Networks (AMC, BBC America, and WE tv). So, in our experience, if you are looking to watch the NBA, which heavily plays on TBS and TNT, you may want to look at another live TV streaming provider.

But for other sports fans, especially those who want to stream local sports, Fubo is a great option in our opinion. They recently announced adding Bally Sports RSNs to their channel lineup and it is the least expensive option to get RSNs in many markets like Altitude, AT&T Sports, Fox Sports, Marquee, MSG, NBC Sports, and NESN. (Take a look at the full list of Fubo’s sports channels.)

Fubo also includes MLB Network, NBA TV, NFL Network, NFL RedZone , NHL Network, and beIN Sports (which is not available on most services). You can add Fox Soccer Plus as part of the International Sports Plus add-on for $7/month.

You can add the Fubo Extra ($8) to add ~38 channels including GSN.

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David covers the biggest news stories, live events, premieres, and informational pieces for The Streamable. Before joining TS, he wrote extensively for Screen Rant and has years of experience writing about the entertainment and streaming industries. He's a Broncos fan, streams on his Toshiba Fire TV, and his favorites include "Andor," "Rings of Power," and "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds."

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