The new sports streaming joint venture between Disney, Fox. and Warner Bros. Discovery will reportedly face scrutiny from the Department of Justice over concerns that it may harm consumers and the industry at large.
Earlier this month, the three companies confirmed plans to launch a new sports-focused streaming service. In spite of typically being rivals, the new service will be home to the sports portfolios of all three services. Considering this will include content from major professional sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL, among others, the service will be quite the offering for sports fans.
According to Bloomberg Law, citing “two people familiar with the process,” regulators now plan to take a closer look at the deal once it is finalized to see how it might impact the industry. There is no suggestion that any formal action will result from the review, although that is always a possibility.
We’ve already seen some raise concerns about such a deal. Fubo, for example, issued a statement very soon after the official announcement. According to that statement, Fubo is concerned that having one direct-to-consumer service in control of so many sports channels and so much sports content could be bad for consumers, due to the lack of competition.
As to be expected, the competition concern, or lack thereof, is one of the potential issues that the Justice Department will be specifically interested in taking a closer look at.
Leave a Reply