Streaming services continue to be the place where more and more people are getting their favorite shows and movies – more than network and cable television. Naturally, the biggest companies in news and entertainment are looking for ways to be a part of this.
But FuboTV ain’t having it.
FuboTV Complains of ‘Iron Grip’ on Sports Content
Yahoo Finance reports, “Sports streamer FuboTV (FUBO) filed an antitrust lawsuit against the media giants behind an upcoming “joint venture” sports streaming service, citing'”the extreme suppression of competition in the US sports-focused streaming market.”
“The complaint, filed in New York federal court on Tuesday and obtained by Yahoo Finance, specifically calls out the joint venture’s (JV) parent companies — Disney’s ESPN (DIS), Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Fox (FOXA),” Yahoo noted.
The story continued:
Fubo, which is seeking to block the JV, alleges the companies have used their “iron grip” on commercially critical sports content to extract billions of dollars from distributors and consumers.
The media giants, the complaint claims, earned profits by “bundling” sports with less desirable content, forcing Fubo to broadcast “unwanted, expensive content” and preventing the company from offering the packages customers actually want.
Shares of Fubo, which boasts more than 200 channels and 1.5 million North American subscribers, have fallen about 30% since the JV was first announced on Feb. 6.
Disney’s ESPN and WBD declined to comment on the lawsuit. Fox did not immediately respond to Yahoo Finance’s request for comment.
In the suit, Fubo said the combined service would culminate in “a total freeze-out” and only increase the participants’ incentives not to make the necessary content available to Fubo and other sports distributors.
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Blocking?
“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,” Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler said in the release.
“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.”
Speaking of blocking, how far FuboTV gets in blocking this deal is anyone’s guess.
But there is no denying that streaming is where it’s at. It’s been true for a good while.
And that’s something everyone involved is just going to have to figure out.
