A judge blocked the launch of the Venu Sports app, a joint venture by ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, by granting FuboTV’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the sports streaming service.
Fubo, a live TV streaming platform focusing on sports, sued to block the Venu sports streaming venture on anti-competitive grounds.
It claims in the filing that the collaboration between Fox, Warner and Disney (which owns ESPN) will give them less incentive to make their channels available on Fubo and other distributors, and charge Fubo above market rates.
Fubo further argues it has tried for years to offer a sports-only streaming service, but ESPN’s actions have prevented it from doing so.
In Friday’s ruling, Judge Margaret Garnett said that Fubo “is likely to be successful in providing its claims that (Venu) will violate this country’s antitrust claims.”
Venu Sports had planned to offer 14 live sports channels, including the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, and collegiate athletics, for $42.99 a month.