Fubo Drops Discovery-Owned Channels, Accuses Network of Abusing Power
By Movieguide® Contributor
Fubo customers are losing access to Warner Bros. Discovery-owned channels after the two companies were unable to reach a new licensing agreement.
“Fubo offered Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) market rates for its content and, despite Fubo’s efforts to negotiate in good faith, WBD did not provide any counteroffer, and insisted on continuing to offer us above-market rates for its content,” the company said in a statement. “Fubo views WBD’s refusal to engage in good faith negotiations as another example of its abuse of massive market power that ultimately limits consumer choice.”
The company viewed the action as anti-fair market, something it has sued WBD over in the past.
“WBD’s refusal to offer Fubo standard market terms and packaging flexibility are more examples of the unfair and anti-competitive practices it and other vertically integrated media companies have imposed on Fubo for many years,” the statement said.
“These practices, outlined in our recent antitrust lawsuit filed against the joint venture companies, aim to monopolize the market, stifle any form of competition, create higher pricing for subscribers and cheat consumers from deserved choice,” the statement continued. “Fubo is taking action against these unfair market terms to avoid passing on these extra costs to consumers.”
The list of channels that Fubo customers lost access to as a result of the failed deal includes Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, Animal Planet and TLC, among others.
Despite Fubo’s insistence that its offers have been unreasonably high, WBD maintains that it is offering the best price it can.
“Our priority is to deliver the best content, at the best value, to our fans wherever they want to watch it,” WBD said in a statement via spokesperson Cara Brugnoli. “We have been and remain ready and willing to work diligently with Fubo to reach a fair market agreement. We proposed an extension of our current agreement, with no changes or price increases, that would allow Fubo to continue carrying these networks, and it is unfortunate that Fubo has decided to alienate their own customers in this way.”
This dispute between Fubo and WBD continues a feud that started earlier this year when Warner Bros., Fox and Disney proposed a new sports bundle.
Movieguide® previously reported:
Fubo CEO David Gandler is unhappy about the proposed bundle from Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, believing it violates antitrust laws and costs consumers billions of dollars every year.
“This is a duel to the death. It has been when we started this company. We’re fighting for consumers. We’re fighting for our customers. We’re fighting for the tens of billions of dollars that are wasted annually on consumers paying for the same content multiple times,” Gundler said during a Q4 earnings call. “This is a very important process. We are sticking to our principles, to our guns.”
“[The bundle] is just the latest example of the 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 of damages to our business,” he added.
The proposed bundle would include the three companies’ sports platforms, including ESPN, ACCN, TNT, TBS, TruTV, FS1 and BTN.
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