Venu Sports Officially Appeals Injunction in Hopes of Launching Before Football Season
The appeal is Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s only hope of getting Venu launched in 2024.
Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery do not intend to let Venu Sports go quietly into that good night. The joint venture sports streaming service was due to launch as soon as Friday, Aug. 23, but a preliminary injunction handed down in Fubo’s antitrust lawsuit against the service has put a stop to those plans… at least for now. On Monday, Venu’s originators filed an appeal of the injunction ruling, hoping that it will allow them to launch the service before the 2024 NFL season ends.
Key Details:
- An appeal was virtually guaranteed as soon as the injunction ruling was given.
- If successful, the appeal would allow Venu to be sold while Fubo continues to make its antitrust case.
- Venu would offer 14 channels plus content from ESPN+ for $42.99 per month.
The appeal was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit earlier this week as Disney, Fox, and WBD maintain that “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.”
Fubo has argued just the opposite. It says that Disney, Fox, and WBD have prevented distributors like itself from distributing packages similar to Venu for years and that the service would be a hugely disruptive influence on pay-TV companies, with the potential to sap millions of existing customers away from their current subscriptions.
Judge Margaret Garnett sided with Fubo in granting the injunction. In her ruling, she found that Fubo would likely win its antitrust case on merit if it were to go to trial and that allowing Venu to launch would indeed cause irreparable harm to Fubo by causing the service to lose customers.
“If the JV launches, witness testimony and documentary evidence firmly establish that a swift exodus of large numbers of Fubo’s subscribers (both current and reasonably anticipated near-term future subscribers) is likely, and that Fubo’s bankruptcy and delisting of the company’s stock will likely soon follow,” Garnett’s decision against Venu reads. “These are quintessential harms that money cannot adequately repair.”
What’s Riding on the Appeal Decision?
Unless the process is expedited, the appeal against the injunction could take several weeks to resolve. But it may be the best hope of Disney, Fox, and WBD of ever getting to sell the service It would behoove the three companies to get Venu to market during college and pro football seasons if they can since football is by far the biggest seasonal draw for live TV streaming services.
If the three companies fail in their appeal, their last hope is that they can convince a jury that Venu does not constitute an antitrust violation. But the process of a jury trial could drag on for a long time, and without the lifting of the injunction, Venu cannot be sold to customers while the process plays out.
Would Disney, Fox, and WBD consider settling with Fubo? That looks unlikely as of now, but it would be a good way for the companies to smooth over relationships with cable distributors that they still rely on to bring in a hefty chunk of annual revenue. It’s not just Fubo whose feathers have been ruffled by the decision to create Venu; DIRECTV officials have expressed their disappointment at the lack of transparency from the three companies behind Venu, and that company along with DISH have supported Fubo’s efforts to keep Venu from customers.
As of now, it appears unlikely that customers will actually get their hands on Venu any time soon. That could change if the appeal goes its way, but Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery will have to make a more convincing argument than they did with Judge Garnett.
Venu Sports
Venu Sports is the planned live TV streaming service offering sports from ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, and truTV. Programming from ESPN+ and on-demand content will also be available. Users will be able to watch NFL, NBA, MLB, and NCAA games. Subscribers can bundle the product with Disney+, Hulu, or Max. Venu’s launch is on hold thanks to a preliminary injunction.