Fubo began an ambitious legal quest for a preliminary injunction against Venu Sports Tuesday, as hearings for the streaming company's antitrust suit against the JV's partners, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, started in a Lower Manhattan federal court.
Lawyers for Fubo argued that the virtual pay TV company is being “preyed upon” by the JV, which will offer a bundle of 15 linear sports networks for $43 a month when it launches later this year … unless Fubo can stop it.
Fubo, which offers a base tier priced at $80 a month, is arguing that it has been rebuffed by the plaintiffs when it asked if it could license only their sports networks so it could assemble a lower-priced package. Fubo has argued that the three JV partners control 80% of the U.S. live sports TV programming market.
“They’ve said, ‘Sure, you can have some sports, but you have to take a lot of other stuff,’ ” Fubo lawyer Mark Hansen argued. (The Penske showbiz trades covered the hearing.)
Before Tuesday’s hearing, during Fubo’s Q2 earnings call, company CEO David Gandler declared his intentions to stop Venu from launching.
“Fubo, like all distributors, has the right to fairly compete in the sports streaming market,” Gandler said. “A fair market would force the JV partners to compete against each other in the licensing of sports channels to pay-TV platforms, virtual and traditional, as well as with other market participants further downstream in the distribution space. This will foster competition, benefiting customers with better prices and choices.
“Our preliminary injunction hearing to prevent the JV’s launch goes before the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, starting today,” Gandler added. “We appreciate the support we have received from across the spectrum. We continue to be encouraged by earlier reports that the Department of Justice is looking into the JV.”
