Disney's Fubo Disney makes antitrust problem go away by buying majority stake in Fubo Fubo to merge with giant it accused of trying to monopolize sports streaming. Scharon Harding Jan 6, 2025 3:58 pm | 52 Credit: Fubo Credit: Fubo Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreDisney is buying Fubo and plans to merge the sports streaming platform with its Hulu + Live TV service, gaining 70 percent ownership of the company that up until today was suing it over antitrust concerns and allegations of anticompetitive practices.According to Fubos announcement today, the unified company will be known as Fubo, and Fubo executives will run it. People will also continue to be able to subscribe to Fubo without subscribing to Hulu + Live TV and vice versa. Also part of the announcement is the revelation that Fubo has settled its antitrust lawsuit against Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) over Venu, a joint venture sports app that the companies plan to launch and that Fubo was seeking to block, citing the three firms' allegedly anticompetitive practices.Fubo had previously claimed that Disney, Fox, and WBD had forced it to pay for irrelevant channels that dont appeal to sports fans by bundling those networks with sports networks. Fubos lawsuit accused Disney and Fox of forcing it to spend millions on unwanted content and forcing it to drop valuable channels through price hikes.Under the Disney merger, though, Fubo will seemingly gain access to channels that it wants. Per the announcement:In connection with the Transaction, Disney will enter into a new carriage agreement with Fubo that will allow Fubo to create a new Sports & Broadcast service, featuring Disneys premier sports and broadcast networks including ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, as well as ESPN+.Sweetening the deal is an agreement from Disney, Fox, and WBD to pay Fubo an aggregate cash payment of $220 million upon the deals closure.The merger is still subject to regulatory and Fubo shareholder approval as well as other customary closing conditions, per Fubo. Its expected to take 12 to 18 months to close, The Hollywood Reporter said.Fubos about-faceFubo's merger with Disney represents a shocking about-face for the sports-streaming provider, which previously had raised alarms (citing Citi research) about Disney's ownership of 54 percent of the US sports rights marketESPN (26.8 percent), Fox (17.3 percent), and WBD (9.9 percent). Fubo successfully got a preliminary injunction against Venu in August, and a trial was scheduled for October 2025.Fubo CEO David Gandler said in February that Disney, Fox, and WBD are erecting insurmountable barriers that will effectively block any new competitors."Each of these companies has consistently engaged in anticompetitive practices that aim to monopolize the market, stifle any form of competition, create higher pricing for subscribers, and cheat consumers from deserved choice," Gandler also said at the time.Now, set to be a Disney company, Fubo is singing a new tune, with its announcement claiming that the merger will enhance consumer choice by making available a broad set of programming offerings.In a statement today, Gandler added that the merger will allow Fubo to provide consumers with greater choice and flexibility" and "to scale effectively," while adding that the deal "strengthens Fubos balance sheet and sets Fubo up for positive cash flow.Ars Technica reached out to Fubo about its previously publicized antitrust and anticompetitive concerns, whether or not those concerns had been addressed, and new concerns that it has settled its lawsuit in favor of its own business needs rather than over a resolution of customer choice problems. Jennifer Press, Fubo SVP of communications, responded to our questions with a statement, saying in part:We filed an antitrust suit against the Venu Sports partners last year because that product was intended to be exclusive. As its partners announced last year, consumers would only have access to the Venu content package from Venu, which would limit choice and competitive pricing.The definitive agreement that Fubo signed with Disney today will actually bring more choice to the market. As part of the deal, Fubo extended carriage agreements with Disney and also Fox, enabling Fubo to create a new Sports and Broadcast service and other genre-based content packages. Additionally, as the antitrust litigation has been settled, the Venu Sports partners can choose to launch that product if they wish. The launch of these bundles will enhance consumer choice by making available a broad set of programming offerings.... a total deceptionSome remain skeptical about Disney buying out a company that was suing it over antitrust concerns."My initial reaction is that a defendant should not be able to buy its way out of antitrust liability by purchasing the plaintiff in a lawsuit. To the extent the plaintiffs (Fubos) claims had any merit, then the deal will enshrine those anticompetitive effects, Hal Singer, an economics professor at the University of Utah and managing director at Econ One, told Ars.Lee Hepner, senior legal counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project, which had joined two amicus briefs supporting Fubo's lawsuit, said in a statement shared with Ars that Fubo had previously "led sports fans and industry observers to believe they were genuinely interested in challenging Disneys illegal joint venture in sports streaming, only to cash a check and leave consumers and the entire streaming industry worse off."Its a total deception," Hepner continued. "This deal does not resolve any of the concerns laid out by Fubo in litigation against Disneys attempts to concentrate the sports streaming market and in fact worsens the status quo. We urge President-Elect Trumps antitrust enforcers, along with state AGs and private stakeholders, to challenge this blatantly illegal deal to protect consumers and competition.A statement from the American Economic Liberties Project today also described the merger as "a troubling escalation" that showed Disney "reinforcing its dominance in the sports streaming market and silencing opposition to its monopolistic practices.""This move will leave consumers with fewer choices, higher prices, and less innovation in an already concentrated industry," the group said.Scharon HardingSenior Technology ReporterScharon HardingSenior Technology Reporter Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She's been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Toms Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK. 52 Comments