Progressive US lawmakers are calling on the Justice Department to initiate a probe of Venu, a new sports streaming bundle, jointly created by Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
In a public letter, Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, and Representative Joaquin Castro said that the DOJ and the Federal Communications Commission should stop the three giant media companies from pooling their sports licensing rights.
According to the lawmakers, the new platform, announced in February 2024 and scheduled to launch by fall, will push the prices higher by further consolidating the market for live sports.
“This massive new sports streaming company would be poised to control more than 80% of nationally broadcast sports and more than half of all national sports content, putting it in a position to exercise monopoly power over televised sports,” the lawmakers wrote.
“The market power of its three giant parent companies would enable it to discriminate against competitors and increase prices for consumers.”
Venu will cost $42.99 per month at launch, and subscribers will be locked in at that price for a year. Viewers will be able to watch the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL, plus college sports and pro tennis – the rights to all these tournaments belong to Fox, Disney, or WBD.
The new platform will compete with YouTubeTV, which costs around $70 per month. However, unlike Venu, it also provides access to sports from NBC, CBS, and Fubo, where the cheapest plan costs $74.99.
On the face of it, Venu’s offer is cheaper. However, the problem is that other streaming platforms would have to negotiate with Fox, Disney, and WBD for access to major sports licensing rights while simultaneously competing with them, lawmakers say.
“Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros. would have a financial incentive to prefer Venu in negotiations with competitors, including by continuing to bundle sports channels with other less popular programming and effectively requiring competitors to buy the entire bundle, preventing them from offering cheaper deals to consumers,” says the letter.
Fubo sued the three media giants in February 2024 over the joint venture. Fubo maintains that Venu would do “irreparable harm” to its pay-TV business.
The lawsuit alleges that Fubo is being forced to carry dozens of pricey, non-sports channels as a condition of licensing sports rights from the companies in a scheme to stifle competition.
A key hearing in this particular lawsuit took place Tuesday at the US District Court in Lower Manhattan after Fubo’s request for a preliminary injunction. If granted, the planned launch of Venu could be delayed.
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