Venu Sports Faces Very Real Prospect of Preliminary Injunction
Reporter covering initial hearings in the antitrust suit against the JV says a hard-to-get injunction is actually 'on the table'
![Venu Sports logo](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VuU3kk2BBgW8twzoBb9CYh-320-80.jpg)
Venu Sports, the streaming skinny bundle being jointly launched by Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, is reportedly facing the hard-to-imagine: getting slapped with a preliminary injunction that would keep the $42.99-a-month service from launching this fall as planned.
According to Puck's Eriq Gardner, who popped into a hearing this week in virtual MVPD operator Fubo's antitrust trial against Venu, granting a preliminary injunction that would stop the JV from launching at least until next year is indeed obtainable.
Also read: Venu Sports Stays Below vMVPD Partners on Price
"From the several days of testimony I witnessed — packed with executives, consultants, and economists — it feels like a preliminary injunction might just be on the table," Gardner wrote. Judge Margaret Garnett "seems genuinely concerned by the extraordinary influence that could be wielded by an alliance of the sector’s behemoths," he added.
Preliminary injunctions have exceedingly high legal bars and are tough to obtain. But in the early rounds, Fubo seems to be effectively arguing its case -- that for decades, Disney, Fox and WBD refused to let pay TV operators bundle just their sports channels, only to turn around and undercut the pay TV industry by doing just that themselves.
Fubo is arguing that Venu's launch will do it "irreparable harm," the kind of hurt that even a large damages verdict won't fix.
NEXT TV NEWSLETTER
The smarter way to stay on top of the streaming and OTT industry. Sign up below.
Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!