(DailyDig.com) – Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney have announced recently that they will combine to provide viewers with a unique platform to watch their favorite sports events live. It is expected to premiere this fall, but will now face a lawsuit regarding antitrust from one of their rivals, FuboTV.
FuboTV claims that these giants are trying to force rival streamers, of which they are one, to pay more for less sports content, so they can have the premium games for themselves. In short, they are suppressing competition, which will affect them and their customers, according to the lawsuit.
Restrictive licensing has limited the options for sports networks to provide the type of programming their customers desire. David Gandler, CEO of FuboTV, stated that the three companies require other companies to purchase and distribute channels unrelated to sports, which are more expensive. Gandler claims that they, nor their customers, want that as a requirement for licensing channels that are supposed to be strictly sports-related.
FuboTV argues that Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney can charge about fifty dollars per month for the new service they have planned. However, they are charging channels like FuboTV far more than what the market rate would be for the license for the same content. The lawsuit is asking for a judgment to equalize the cost of licensing.
The lawsuit also accuses the three companies of using their monopoly on sports content to increase their already billion-dollar profits, which causes customers to pay higher prices for the same content. The impact this venture has on competition in a fair market should be of concern to the court and every sports consumer. The suit claims that controlling nearly eighty percent of sports content is anticompetitive.
It was reported by the media that this venture has created a stir among major sports distributors, who voiced a concern that this will increase cancellations of cable TV.
A Moffett Nathanson analyst, Craig Moffett, said that it is possible that antitrust challenges would arise.
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