Disney (ESPN+), Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery recently announced the name and pricing for their joint sports streaming offering, Venu Sports. This has prompted Fubo to file an antitrust lawsuit that is currently being heard in court. Now, three bipartisan politicians are urging the Department of Justice (DoJ) to investigate.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusets), U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), and U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) have sent a letter to the DOJ asking them to investigate and possibly prevent the new Venu Sports streaming service arguing that the service would violate antitrust and telecommunications laws. The involvement of U.S. lawmakers, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Representative Joaquin Castro, further amplifies the urgency of this issue.
Their request for a Department of Justice (DoJ) investigation signals a growing effort to ensure that antitrust and telecommunications laws are upheld, preventing monopolistic practices that could disadvantage smaller competitors and limit consumer choice. As streaming services continue to evolve, such legal battles will play a crucial role in shaping the future of digital media distribution and competitive fairness in the industry.
In high-stakes legal matters like these, thorough investigative work is essential to uncovering the facts and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Firms specializing in corporate investigations, such as https://shadowinvestigationsltd.ca/, provide invaluable support in cases involving antitrust concerns, corporate misconduct, and regulatory compliance. Whether it’s conducting due diligence, gathering evidence for legal proceedings, or analyzing market trends to identify anti-competitive behavior, professional investigative services help businesses and legal teams navigate complex disputes.
They argue that the joint venture will control most sports access, does not offer competitors the same bundling opportunities, and, therefore, is unfair.
“We write to express serious concerns regarding the proposed joint venture (JV) between FOX, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney subsidiary ESPN, named Venu Sports (Venu).1
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.2 The market power of its three giant parent companies would enable it to discriminate against competitors and increase prices for consumers.
The politicians argue that by “consolidating the sports programming of the second, fifth and ninth largest revenue media companies in the world,” they could “command lucrative licensing deals and control viewing access” by centralizing more than 80% of nationally broadcast sports content.
This has led to fears of higher pricing for access.
They fear this would allow Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. to “be able to exert joint control over live sports from distribution through broadcast.” The licensed content controlled by the venture will give them “a clear financial incentive to preference their own streaming platform over alternative sports streaming providers in licensing and bundling deals.”
This means that they have the most access and would give themselves preferential treatment to Venu over other sports providers. Alternatively, they could force competitors to pay more for “less desirable programming” under the terms set by the joint venture.
“However, competitors of the streaming platform have argued that the parent companies do not offer similar opportunities to carry only live sports programming, instead requiring competitors to carry a bundle of channels that often includes much less desirable programming—driving up costs for the streaming services and consumers.”
You can read the entire letter here.
It’s also important to note that when the pricing was announced for Venu Sports at $42.99 per month it was mentioned that subscribers could lock in that price for a year. This seemingly indicates that there are plans to increase that price sometime within the next year.
One could argue that if this joint venture choked out the competition, it could increase pricing as the main source of sports offerings.
Venu Sports is set to launch this fall.
What do you think?
Source: The Athletic
Pirates & Princesses (TM) (Stylized as PNP) is an independent, opinionated News and Information site focused on Travel, Entertainment, Fashion, the “Geek Girl” Lifestyle, and more. We focus heavily on Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Universal Orlando Resort, and other themed entertainment and travel destinations. Our news staff includes former theme park and entertainment industry employees, journalists and dedicated pop culture and theme park enthusiasts. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of this site, our affiliates or our sponsors.