It is shaping up to be a battle between David and three Goliaths.
FuboTV — the sports-oriented streaming service — is suing to stop Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery from creating a rival service that would combine the three Hollywood studios’ formidable sports programming into one mega-streaming package.
The planned service is expected to offer streaming sports entertainment across the board, including the NFL, Major League Baseball, and the NBA. While no prices have been announced, the estimated starting price is expected to be between $45 to $50 per month.
FuboTV generally goes for $80 to $100 a month, depending on the tier you choose. While its emphasis is on sports, FuboTV offers other, non-sports programming by including such channels as HGTV, E!, and Fox News in its bundles.
In its complaint, which was filed Wednesday in a NewYork federal court, FuboTV is arguing that the three Hollywood studios are engaging in unlawful practices.
“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 consumers from deserved choice,” David Gandler, co-founder and CEO of FuboTV, said in a statement. “Simply put, this sports cartel blocked our playbook for many years and now they are effectively stealing it for themselves.”
FuboTV is also arguing that it has tried for years to offer a sports-only streaming service but has been prevented from doing so by studios that require it to include non-sports channels.
Hollywood studios are hitting the panic button as tens of millions of Americans are cutting the cable cord. At the same time, the studios are losing billions of dollars a year on streaming. To help stop the bleeding, Hollywood is starting to embrace streaming bundles, which will force consumers to pay for multiple services even if they don’t watch all of them.
FuboTV was founded in 2015 and currently has 1.48 million subscribers.
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