FuboTV, a live TV streaming platform, has filed a civil lawsuit against Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, alleging that the media companies have engaged in anti-competitive practices for years and continue to do so through the sports streaming app they combine According to court documents, they plan to hit the market later this year.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, also names ESPN and Hulu as defendants.
In the lawsuit, FuboTV, which has been in business since 2015, alleges that the companies engaged in a campaign that resulted in the suppression of competition in the U.S. sports streaming market and FuboTV and its customers, as well as the recent joint venture the venture that has caused harm to companies will continue to stifle competition. Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery announced this month that they would work together to launch a direct-to-consumer streaming app that would allow customers to pay for access to all sports, which they transmit over 14 combined linear channels.
“Instead of competition, defendants chose collusion, thereby denying their own cartel and no one else the ability to market and sell a live sports package,” FuboTV alleges in the lawsuit. “In doing so, they have ensured that their combined company is not exposed to effective competition. They are now hurting competition and America’s consumers and threaten to do more harm.”
FuboTV says the companies forced it to accept bundling requirements to air certain content and charged licensing fees above market rates – resulting in higher prices for consumers. The companies' conduct, FuboTV alleges in the lawsuit, is a way to hinder Fubo's business and growth.
By forming the joint venture, Fox, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery will “freeze” streaming competitors and incentivize them not to offer premium content to Fubo and others, FuboTV claims in the lawsuit.
Fubo is asking the court for a permanent injunction to prevent the joint venture from operating and to order the three companies to dissolve the joint venture.
“For decades, defendants have exploited their iron control over sports content to extract billions of dollars in outsized profits from distributors and consumers,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants derived many of these profits by “bundling” their commercially important sports content with other, less desirable content – forcing sports fans to purchase channels they did not want or need in order to receive Defendants’ sports content.”
The three companies' joint venture caused a stir in the sports television ecosystem when it was announced. Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery own, among other things, the rights to national NBA and NHL broadcasts as well as numerous NFL, MLB and NCAA tournament games. FuboTV claims the companies are violating antitrust laws by merging into a streaming app.
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“The (joint venture) will significantly reduce and mitigate competition by facilitating horizontal agreements between defendants who collectively control access to the most commercially important sports content in the United States,” the lawsuit says. “With the JV, the defendants have aligned their interests and will have the opportunity and incentive to enter into agreements when it comes to licensing essential sports content to third-party distribution partners.
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