Satellite-TV companies DirecTV and Dish Network have filed affidavits supporting Fubo in its antitrust suit against the sports streaming joint venture to be launched by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery.
"Their declarations underscore a wider concern in the pattern of anticompetitive practices by the defendants, not particular to only Fubo, that have hurt consumers," a Fubo rep told Next TV via email Thursday.
We weren't immediately able to access the legal documents via the federal court's online platform. But TheWrap obtained the statement made by DirecTV chief content officer Rob Thun to the U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday:
“DirecTV has grave concerns about the effect that the sports content joint venture between the defendants in this case will have on competition for the distribution of sports programming,” Thun said. “More specifically, the joint venture partners are offering content in a manner that they do not allow DirecTV or other distributors to offer to consumers. Rather, the joint venture partners require that DirecTV offers a large bundle of channels and do not allow DirecTV to offer a smaller sports-focused bundle of channels.”
In early February, Disney, Fox and WBD announced plans, starting this fall, to bundle their linear sports channels, ESPN included, in an as-yet-unnamed joint venture internally code-named “Raptor” and informally monikered by the media and equity analysts as “Spulu.”
Calling the JV a “sports cartel” and “borderline racketeering,” Fubo sued the JV partners on Feb. 20, contending that, among other things, that pay TV operators like Fubo have been asking the defendants to allow them to assemble genre-specific bundles just like the one the JV is proposing, only to be shot down each time.
The Justice Department at that time also said it would examine the JV over antitrust concerns.
On Monday, Fubo also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction of the so-called Spulu.
According to the Fubo rep, the DirecTV and Dish declarations “underscore a wider concern in the pattern of anticompetitive practices by the Defendants, not particular to only Fubo, that have hurt consumers. We are also encouraged by the DOJ's continued investigation into the JV.
“We remain steadfast in our fight against the JV and will continue to defend against this threat of irreparable harm to Fubo and consumers more broadly as outlined in the motion,” Fubo added. “We see this as an opportunity to obtain parity of terms and rates for Fubo, which could have a very positive impact on the future of our business. We also see this as an opportunity to level the playing field of the sports streaming industry as a whole. Customers deserve choice, fair pricing and innovative products, and this is only possible in a competitive streaming market.”
