The launch of Venu Sports will be delayed after a federal ruling granted FuboTV’s move for an initial injunction against its planned sports streaming assignment across ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery.
U. S. District Judge of the United States, Margaret M. Garnett, of the Southern District of New York, said Friday in his 69-page ruling that Fubo would likely succeed in showing that the joint venture would violate antitrust law and that Fubo and consumers would “face irreparable harm. “”in the absence of a court order. “
ESPN said in a statement that it disagreed with the court’s ruling and would appeal.
“We believe that Fubo’s arguments are factually and legally flawed, and that Fubo has failed to demonstrate that he is legally entitled to an initial injunction,” ESPN said. “Venu Sports is a pro-competitive option that aims to improve customer selection by reaching an audience segment that ultimately does not have the existing subscription options. “
FuboTV filed a lawsuit two weeks after ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. Discovery and Hulu announced plans in February to offer a sports streaming service.
In its filing, FuboTV said it had been looking for years to offer a sports streaming service alone, but was prevented from doing so because ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery imposed bundling requirements on FuboTV that it says force Fubo to spend heavily. millions of dollars to license and distribute content that its consumers don’t need or need.
Venu Sports announced on August 1 that it would be available for $42. 99 per month with a release planned for the fall.
The platform would come with offerings from 14 linear networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, Big Ten Network, TNT, TBS, truTV) as well as ESPN. you have the option to bundle the product with Disney, Hulu and/or Max.
“We will launch the program at an attractive price that will appeal to cord-cutters and cord-cutting enthusiasts that have never before been served through existing pay-TV packages,” said Pete Distad, CEO of Venu Sports, in a release.
ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery will own one-third of the shares of the joint venture.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.