Fubo sues three major sports TV giants over proposed streamer

Streamer Fubo has filed an antitrust lawsuit against The Walt Disney Co., Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery over the joint sports streamer the three media giants are forming.

ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery unite to launch sports streaming service

In addition to raising antitrust concerns, Fubo, which is formally called FuboTV, also claims that the trio of companies are encroaching on its own business model.

Fubo is seeking to either prohibit the companies from moving forward with the venture, which some have jokingly dubbed “Spulu,” or require it to offer it parity in licensing fees. It is also seeking financial damages.

“For decades, defendants have leveraged their iron grip on sports content to extract billions of dollars in supra-competitive profits by engaging in practices causing consumers to pay more for highly popular sports content and resulting in significant damages to both Fubo and its customers,” Fubo said in its complaint.

Fubo’s document also alleges that Fox, WBD and Disney charge it licensing fees that are 30% to 50% higher than other outlets in order to carry they carry primary rights to, making it difficult for Fubo to operate its offering under competitive terms. 

“These horizontal competitors are colluding to create a JV that will cause substantial harm to competition and consumers,” the complaint says.

“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,” FuboTV CEO David Gandler said in a statement. “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.”

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Requests for comment from the joint venture were declined. 

The combined streamer is also facing a review by the U.S. Justice Department for potential antitrust concerns.

The companies had planned on launching the new offering by the fall of 2024, though key details such as a pricing, availability and content lineups have yet to be announced.