DirecTV And Echostar Express Concerns To The Court About Venu Sports

Earlier this week Disney’s made a surprise announcement that they had entered a definite agreement with Fubo. The agreement seemed to cleared the path for the roll-out of Venu Sports. Besides Disney acquiring 70% of Fubo and combining the streaming service with Disney’s virtual MVPD Hulu + Live TV.

Venu Sports is a joint venture from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery and would provide sports programming from the three owners. As part of the agreement, the three Venu owners announced a cash payment to Fubo of $220 million along with a loan of $145 million. As part of the agreement, Fubu dropped their litigation of Venu Sports with the possibility of a launch occurring as soon as March. With opposition to the launch of Venu Sports continuing, however the venture has been scrapped.

At its launch Venu Sports would cost subscribers $42.99 a month. Venu Sports will have sports content from 14 different networks along with an extensive programming library including documentaries. Originally, Venu’s launch had been scheduled just prior to the start of the 2024 NFL regular season. On August 16 Fubu had stopped the launch of Venu Sports after a preliminary injunction citing antitrust concerns was approved by the U.S. District Court.

While Fubu has since dropped their injunction of Venu Sports, paving the way for the roll-out as soon as March, that may not happen. Lawyers from DirecTV and EchoStar, the nation’s two largest satellite TV distributors, have written separate letters to the U.S. District Court Judge Margaret M. Garnett. Both letters requested Fubo’s preliminary injunction that had blocked the launch of Venu last August not be lifted pending a full review of the claims against them.

Last August, both DirecTV and Echostar had filed briefs in support of Fubo, stating Venu Sports was anti-competitive. Among the reasons cited was that the three owners of Venu Sports could allow channels that had sports only, which other companies were prohibited from doing. The court’s preliminary injunction agreed; Venu Sports had violated competitive laws. At the time, the DOJ had filed an amicus brief reaching the same conclusion. As late as December 13 Venu’s motion to dismiss the Fubu injunction had been denied. A trial was scheduled for October 2025 with the expectation it would last three to four weeks.

The DirecTV letter noted that instead of amending the infringement, Disney had decided to acquire Fubo instead. Additionally, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery both made payments to Fubo. DirecTV noted, these transactions do nothing to resolve the underlying antitrust violations the Court and DOJ have correctly identified. Rather, it is a form of evading judicial review of the anticompetitive actions of Venu and its shareholders at the collective expense of fans, public institutions, leagues, conferences, teams and players.

Also DirecTV wrote, “This settlement clears the path for Venu to launch unencumbered by removing the injunction the Court imposed to preliminarily prevent the immediate and irreparable harms the JV launch presents. DirecTV is just one of several non-parties that expressed “grave concerns” about the impact Venu would have on competition for sports programming, given that Venu would “offer content in a manner that [the Defendants] do not allow DirecTV or other distributors to offer to consumers.” The preliminary injunction has protected consumers and distributors alike from the JV Defendant’s scheme to “capture demand,” “suppress” potentially competitive sports bundles, and impose consumer price hikes.”

Echostar’s letter cited, Venu’s three owners had, “purchased their way out of their antitrust violation.” The letter concludes with “the parties’ settlements appear designed to eliminate court jurisdiction over this multifarious harm by effectuating the preliminary injunction’s expiration, rather than addressing the underlying competitive issues.

Now, with the injunction undone by voluntary dismissal, DISH, Sling, and other distributors will suffer antitrust injury. Their services will be hampered by the massive incentive that the JV Defendants have to raise programming fees for distributors that compete against Venu, and they will be effectively foreclosed from competing. Thus, the JV Defendants will be starving EchoStar and other effects of the JV appear to be widely shared both by Fubo’s competitors in the private sector (such as DISH, DIRECTV, and others).”

In a statement, on Januury 10 the three parent companies of Venu Sports pulled the plug on their joint venture.

“After careful consideration, we have collectively agreed to discontinue the Venu Sports joint venture and not launch the streaming service,” the companies said in a joint statement. “In an ever-changing marketplace, we determined that it was best to meet the evolving demands of sports fans by focusing on existing products and distribution channels. We are proud of the work that has been done on Venu to date and grateful to the Venu staff, whom we will support through this transition period.”

Whether shutting down Venu Sports will nullify the Disney-Fubu agreement remains to be seen.