Warner Bros. Discover, Fox and Disney announced plans earlier this year to launch the ultimate sports channel by the end of 2024. In early August, the three streaming giants confirmed that the new sports channel will go live in the United States sometime this fall.
They also announced that the upcoming service will be available for $42.99 at launch. According to Venu Sports, this is just an introductory offer that will only be available for a limited time, so the actual price of the service will be higher.
However, Fubo argued that the new package from Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox and Disney was so cheap that it gave the company an unfair advantage over its competitors.
As some of you probably know, Fubo already offers some of the channels included in the Venu Sports package. The problem is that Fubo has to pay more for those channels than what Venu asked for.
U.S. District Judge Margarett Garnett granted Fubo a temporary restraining order on Friday (via The Streamable). In the ruling, Judge Garnett states: “The same players leveraged their long-standing bundling practices to create a gap in the pay-TV market that is ideal for the pure-play live sports joint venture Venu Sports, and also exercise near-monopolistic control over the possibility of another pure-play live sports streaming service that can compete with the Venu Sports joint venture..”
Judge Garnett further said that Fubo would lose many subscribers with the launch of Venu Sports, which would definitely lead to “Fubo's bankruptcy and the delisting of the company's stock are likely to follow soon. These are typical damages that money cannot adequately repair..”
At launch, Venu Sports was expected to offer access to 14 linear sports networks, including: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, FOX, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+.
In addition, Venu promises its customers comprehensive live coverage of games and events from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, international football, Grand Slam Tennis Championship, Golf Championship, F1 and more.