Fubo’s request to have a joint venture sports bundle between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery blocked has been granted by a federal judge due to antitrust laws, according to Deadline.

Federal Judge Blocks Disney Sports Bundle

In February, Fubo filed a lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery over their previously announced plans to launch a sports streaming service called Venu Sports. Fubo CEO David Gandler called the three companies a “sports cartel” shortly thereafter.

Fubo which provides a “sports-first” streaming service, has around 1.45 million subscribers. The company believes that the joint venture between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery would lead to a monopoly, potentially knocking them out of the space.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett issued a ruling after testimony from executives and elected to grant a preliminary injunction. Her full ruling can be found here.

In her ruling Garnett wrote the following:

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.”

Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery issued a joint statement in response to Garnett’s ruling.

We respectfully disagree with the court’s ruling and are appealing it. We believe that Fubo’s arguments are wrong on the facts and the law, and that Fubo has failed to prove it is legally entitled to a preliminary injunction. Venu Sports is a pro-competitive option that aims to enhance consumer choice by reaching a segment of viewers who currently are not served by existing subscription options.”

A date has not yet been set for the main antitrust trial. Venu Sports was set to launch in the fall with an initial price of $43 per month. The price would have been $36 less than the cheapest Fubo plan available. Fubo claims that they had no choice but to raise prices after they were required to add additional non-sports channels to access sports offerings. They have stated that Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery were part of the reason why they had to have price hikes.

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