Fubo CEO, David Gandler, did not hold back in his criticism of the joint venture between Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox Corp. In a recent earnings call, Gandler reiterated Fubo’s claims that the actions of these media giants have cost the sports-centric streaming provider billions of dollars in damages.
Gandler accused the joint venture, set to launch later this year, of attempting to monopolize the sports streaming industry and eliminate competition. Fubo filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and WBD, claiming that they have engaged in a campaign to block Fubo’s innovative sports-first streaming business, resulting in significant harm to both Fubo and consumers.
“Their proposed venture is just the latest example of this 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 in damages to our business,” Gandler stated during the earnings call. “We consider the defendants’ pernicious contractual terms and other anticompetitive practices borderline racketeering.”
Gandler further revealed that Fubo is being charged programming fees by Disney, WBD, and Fox Corp. that are 30%-50% higher than other distributors. He estimated that Fubo paid over $200 million in 2023 for “content that consumers don’t want” in order to obtain rights to sports programming. If Fubo had received the same rates as Hulu, Comcast, Charter, or DirecTV Stream, the company’s results could have been even better.
“We are asking for an opportunity to compete fairly as a business and to offer consumers a streaming option that gives them the channels they want, and at a fair price,” Gandler emphasized.
In its complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Fubo seeks to either block the joint venture or impose restrictions on the defendants, such as “economic parity of licensing terms.”
The joint venture, announced on February 6th by Disney/ESPN, Fox Corp., and Warner Bros. Discovery, will create a unified streaming platform that includes ESPN+ and 14 linear TV networks. The streaming bundle will be available through the joint venture, as well as an add-on via services like Disney+, Hulu, and Max.
Despite the ongoing legal battle, Fubo ended 2023 with 1.618 million paid subscribers in North America, a 12% increase compared to the previous year. The company reported $402 million in total revenue for the fourth quarter, a 29% increase, with ad revenue reaching $38.6 million, up 15% from the same period in 2022. The net loss for Q4 improved to $70.1 million, compared to $152 million in the previous year’s quarter.
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