FuboTV, a sports streaming platform, has filed a lawsuit against Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney, including ESPN and Hulu, over a joint sports streaming service announced earlier this month. The lawsuit claims the venture is “extreme suppression of competition in the U.S. sports-focused streaming market.”
The lawsuit also contends that the three media companies—which controls much of the country’s live sports content—have inflated prices for consumers by forcing bundling requirements and above-market licensing fees on Fubo. The new sports streaming platform would allow Fox, Warner Bros. and Disney to offer lower prices while circumventing restrictions on what channels must be carried, which gives them a competitive advantage.
“Each of these companies has consistently engaged in anticompetitive practices that aim to monopolize the market, stifle any form of competition, create higher pricing for subscribers and cheat consumers from deserved choice,” said FuboTV CEO David Gandler. “By joining together to exclusively reserve the rights to distribute a specialized live sports package, we believe these corporations are erecting insurmountable barriers that will effectively block any new competitors from entering the market.”
The new streaming platform is expected to roll out this fall. However, the details of the pricing and structure are still unclear.
