Lawmakers Have Questions For New Sports Streaming Venture

On February 8, news of a joint venture proposal emerged, forged by The Walt Disney Co., owner of ESPN, along with FOX Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery. Their plan? To create a sports-focused subscription video-on-demand platform with a reported $40 per month fee. 

The proposal triggered a Wall Street sell-off for some broadcast TV companies, including Gray Television and FuboTV. In response to this “Hulu for Sports” plan, FuboTV even filed an antitrust lawsuit in a New York federal district court against the trio of media giants, aiming to halt their plans.

Now, two Members of Congress have chimed in to express their concerns about negative consumer impact and anti-competitive behavior resulting from this sports streaming joint venture. U.S. lawmakers Jerry Nadler and Joaquin Castro are raising questions about the implications of this collaboration between Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. on the streaming landscape.

Nadler (D., N.Y.) and Castro (D., Texas) have written a letter to Murdoch, Disney CEO Bob Iger, and WBD CEO David Zaslav, demanding answers to 19 questions regarding the details of how the forthcoming service will present itself to both consumers and leagues. Within the extensive series of questions is a broad concern by the two legislators that the streaming product will create a series of negative effects across the industry. The pair have set an April 30 deadline for a response, which they also intend to have sent to the Justice Department.