Some streaming services are slowly consolidating, creating packages, and, inevitably, turning into cable television. And the streamers who aren’t part of the pack are turning to legal action.
Fubo — a streaming service that has shows and movies along with the choice to stream football, baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, and other sports — filed an antitrust lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company, FOX Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery, and their affiliates. The company alleges that “the forthcoming launch of a sports-streaming joint venture steals Fubo’s playbook and is the latest example of this campaign.”
“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, the co-founder and CEO of Fubo, said in a statement. “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 comes after ESPN, FOX, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced they will be joining forces to create one big sports streaming service. The proposed partnership includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV, and ESPN+, which is, well, a lot of sports — and probably more than Fubo could reasonable produce.
There’s no name for the new partnership and no official price, but The Wall Street Journal said the platform might charge around $50 a month. Meanwhile, Fubo plans start at $79.99 a month.
