Fox, Warner Brothers Discovery, and Disney had planned to launch a joint-venture streaming giant by the start of the NFL season. For now, that won’t be happening.
Via Sports Business Journal, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking Venu Sports. The lawsuit was brought by Fubo TV, which argued that the effort is anticompetitive because the three companies are forcing Fubo to pay for a wide range of entertainment channels without being able to pick the specific sports channels it wants.
Fubo also argued that Venu forces consumers to pay higher costs for content they don’t want, in order to get the sports content that they hope to see. The service, if/when live, is expected to be priced at $42.99 per month.
A preliminary injunction is not easy to get. The bar is high. Among other things, the party seeking it must prove a significant likelihood of success on the merits of the case. Any judge that decides a preliminary injunction is appropriate is essentially deciding that the party seeking it will eventually win the case.
The companies behind Venu will appeal the preliminary injunction. It remains to be seen whether it gets resolved before Week 1.