NEW YORK—FuboTV Inc. has filed an antitrust lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company, Fox Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. and their affiliates, alleging that the three media giants have engaged in a years-long campaign to block Fubo’s sports-first streaming business resulting in significant harm to both Fubo and consumers. The complaint alleges that the forthcoming launch of a sports-streaming joint venture is the latest example of this campaign.
Fubo TV initially raised antitrust issues shortly after Disney, Fox and WBD announced plans to launch a massive sports streaming services in the fall of 2024 and has now followed up on those complaints with a wide ranging antitrust lawsuit. It claims that the defendants have engaged in a long-running pattern of stymying Fubo’s sports-first streaming service by engaging in anti-competitive practices.
“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,” the complaint said.
In the complaint Fubo alleges that the defendants engaged in a number of tactics to prevent Fubo from competing fairly in the marketplace, including unfair “bundling”, which forced Fubo to carry dozens of expensive non-sports channels that Fubo’s customers do not want as a condition of licensing the Defendants’ sports channels.
Other examples of anti-competitive behavior cited in the complaint include the defendants charging Fubo content licensing rates that are as much as 30%-50%+ higher than rates they charge other distributors. Defendants also impose non-market penetration requirements (the percentage of total subscribers to which a content package must be sold to or cannot exceed) on Fubo, the complaint alleged.
Fubo said that it believes it has incurred billions of dollars in damages as a result of the Defendants’ actions.
Fubo described the recently announced joint venture as simply the latest coordinated step in the Defendants’ campaign to eliminate competition in the sports-first streaming market and capture this market for themselves.
The complaint also argues that the Defendants control more than half of the U.S. sports rights market. By combining to license their must-have sports content on a standalone basis to their own joint venture, other distributors, including Fubo, would be at an extreme competitive disadvantage to the detriment of millions of U.S. consumers, according to the complaint.
The complaint was filed in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York.
“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,” David Gandler, co-founder and CEO, Fubo commented. “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. This strategy ensures that consumers desiring a dedicated sports channel lineup are left with no alternative but to subscribe to the Defendants’ joint venture.”
“We have previously collaborated with each of these companies so that we could offer ‘must-have’ sports content to Fubo customers,” he continued. “For many years, they have challenged our business at every opportunity through pernicious practices. While other new competitors were prevented from entering the market, Fubo has continuously fought back. The Defendants’ unconscionable practices have impacted our ability to grow and have deprived consumers of a compelling and competitively-priced product. Simply put, this sports cartel blocked our playbook for many years and now they are effectively stealing it for themselves.”
“Silence is no longer an option,” he concluded. “The fact that live sporting events dominated television viewership in 2023, with 97 of the top 100 broadcasts, highlights the critical importance of sports in entertainment and the necessity for its broad dissemination. Reports that the Department of Justice intends to look into the joint venture are encouraging, and it evidences the potential negative and widespread impact this alliance will have. Fubo seeks equal treatment in terms of pricing and all relevant conditions from these media giants to ensure we can compete fairly for the benefit of consumers. Our customers deserve access to a competitively priced offering with innovative features designed by Fubo for an unparalleled sports viewing experience.”
