Fubo‘s antitrust lawsuit against Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery is now set to begin on Oct. 6, 2025, and that’s a long time to wait for an outcome on whether Venu Sports will become available to consumers.
The trial date was confirmed on Thursday by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Garnett, the same judge who initially granted the preliminary injunction against Venu Sports.
This is actually why the preliminary injunction was so important for both sides. For Fubo, it pauses the launch of a service that potentially could materially impact its entire business model. From the Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery perspective, the pause is long enough to put the future of Venu Sports in serious jeopardy, even without a verdict from the courts.
Whether Venu Sports has to wait that long to launch is still somewhat unclear. Following the issuing of the injunction, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery appealed the decision and the outcome of that appeal is still to be decided.
If Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery are successful in their appeal, it is entirely possible that the the trial start date could be brought forward.
Assuming the case does make it to trial, and based on the nature of the dispute, it seems highly likely that the discovery period will reveal some interesting information on the carriage negotiations between both sides. Details which would otherwise remain unknown by the general public.
It is not just Fubo that has an issue with the idea of Venu Sports, as the sports streaming service is understood to be one of the sticking points of the current DirecTV-Disney dispute. Specifically, the inability of DirecTV to offer a competing sports-focused skinny package to consumers.
The availability of competing skinny sports bundles is also a central point of Fubo’s antitrust lawsuit.
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