Fubo CEO Calls Fox-Disney-WBD Sports Bundle ‘Borderline Racketeering’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Fubo CEO David Gandler is unhappy about the proposed bundle from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, believing it violates antitrust laws and costs consumers billions of dollars every year.
“This is a duel to the death. It has been when we started this company. We’re fighting for consumers. We’re fighting for our customers. We’re fighting for the tens of billions of dollars that are wasted annually on consumers paying for the same content multiple times,” Gundler said during a Q4 earnings call. “This is a very important process. We are sticking to our principles, to our guns.”
“[The bundle] is just the latest example of the sports cartel’s attempt to block and steal Fubo’s vision of what a sports streaming bundle should look like, resulting in billions of dollars of damages to our business,” he added.
The proposed bundle would include the three companies’ sports platforms, including ESPN, ACCN, TNT, TBS, TruTV, FS1 and BTN.
After the bundle was announced, Fubo filed a lawsuit claiming the deal would hinder third-party sources from accessing the market. The lawsuit claimed this bundle would finalize the creation of a monopoly and lock out anyone from competing in the space.
“Each of these companies has consistently engaged in anticompetitive practices that aim to monopolize the market, stifle any form of competition, create higher pricing for subscribers and cheat customers from deserved choice,” Gandler said when the lawsuit was announced.
Despite the difficulties of facing these major companies in court, Gandler believes Fubo has the necessary evidence to win the case and shut down the creation of the bundle.
“We’ve been competing with these very large companies for nine years now. We have and overwhelming amount of evidence from all these years that demonstrates anti-competitive patterns that we’ve been dealing with,” Gandler said. “We just want parity.”
Whether or not courts will hear the case, however, remains unseen.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox’s sports streaming merger might not happen as Fubo TV recently issued an antitrust lawsuit against the entertainment giants.
A statement from Fubo said, “the vertically-integrated media companies have engaged in a years-long campaign to block Fubo’s innovative sports-first streaming business resulting in significant harm to both Fubo and consumers. The complaint alleges that the forthcoming launch of a sports-streaming joint venture steals Fubo’s playbook and is the latest example of this campaign.”
“For decades, Defendants have leveraged their iron grip on sports content to extract billions of dollars in supra-competitive profits from distributors and consumers. Defendants earned many of these profits by ‘bundling’ their commercially critical sports content with other, less desirable content—forcing sports fans to purchase channels they did not want,” Fubo’s filing read.
“And once they have combined forces, Defendants’ incentive to exclude Fubo and other rivals will only increase,” it continued.
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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
