Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros Discovery’s joint venture, Venu Sports, has hit a massive hurdle courtesy of a federal judge. Plans for this latest giant in the sports broadcasting industry were announced earlier this year, but another key player, Fubo, hit Venu with a devastating blow. Despite initial plans to come together for a one-of-a-kind sports offering, the collaborative effort will have to wait a while longer to potentially come to fruition. Following the press release in February regarding the new Disney streaming bundle, Fubo, a livestreaming service with a focalization on sports, filed a federal lawsuit to halt the venture. Unfortunately for the sports bundle, the judge swung her gavel on the side of Fubo, stating:

“Once the JV launches, the JV defendants have no reason to take actions that could allow for the emergence of direct competitors. Quite the opposite: the multi-year monopolistic runway they have created for themselves will provide powerful incentives to thwart competition and hike prices on both consumers and other distributors. But even if the JV defendants swear that such price-hiking and competition excluding will not actually occur (though, as discussed below, there is good reason to believe that it will), one purpose of antitrust injunctions is to prevent anticompetitive incentives from forming in the first place so that American consumers do not have to simply take their word for it and hope for the best.”

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According to Deadline, the federal judge agreed with Fubo’s request to block the launch of Venu Sports, citing antitrust laws. The allegations implied that creating such a media conglomerate would give the massive corporations an even larger stronghold on the market. While Fubo is a sizable company in its own right, with nearly 1.5 million unique subscribers, it believes the formation of Venu Sports would create an unfair monopoly, trampling over lower-level competitors in the space.

However, the judge’s actions are a temporary one, keeping Disney and Warner Bros hopes alive for the future launch of Venu Sports. The judge argued that Fubo had a substantial enough claim for the initial injunction due to the potential unfair power of the partnership, but hope isn’t lost for sports fans eagerly awaiting Venu’s launch. Currently, no official date for the antitrust trial has been set, but Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros are ready to fight the initial ruling.

The Fight Over Venu is Far From Over

The partners behind Venu Sports are moving forward with an appeal to battle Fubo’s claims, which they’ve described as “wrong on the facts and the law.” Plans for the bundle are far-reaching with the potential to revolutionize the way sports fans across every league consume athletic events. The launch was tentatively scheduled for Fall 2024, but with an antitrust trial looming in the distance, a delay is presumably inevitable.

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Regardless of the confidence from Disney and the other partners, Fubo remains steadfast in their belief that the bundle would be an anti-competition monopoly. According to Fubo, the primary motivation behind the attempt to squash the launch of Venu Sports is for consumer options. In a statement, Fubo CEO, David Gandler went a step further in his condemnation of the launch, accusing this of being common practice for the companies behind it, saying:

“Only the latest example of anticompetitive practices that The Walt Disney Co., Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery have consistently engaged in for many years. We believe these practices monopolize the market, stifle competition and cheat consumers from deserved choice.”

Upon launch, Venu Sports is slated to be bundled with Disney+, Hulu, and Max.