Fubo Says Venu Sports Has an ‘Artificial Advantage,’ Avoids Competition
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 offering a robust lineup of approximately 150 premier channels, with plans starting at $63.99 per month. This entry-level package provides access to local broadcast affiliates 18 of the leading 35 cable channels channels, and valuable regional sports networks (RSNs).