US judge delays launch of sports streaming venture from Disney, media giants

By Jack Queen and Dawn Chmielewski

(Reuters) -A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the launch of a new sports streaming service backed by three major media companies, Walt Disney, Fox and Warner Bros Discovery, who aim to capture sports fans not watching games on television.

The ruling is a blow for Disney, Fox and Warner Bros, who in February disclosed their plans to offer Venu Sports, a streaming service that would combine their 14 live sports networks into a single app.

The judge found that rival sports streaming service FuboTV would likely succeed in arguing that the media partnership thwarts competition for this audience. Fubo claimed it was unable to achieve its goal of providing service focused exclusively on sports because it was forced to carry "unwanted non sports networks that its consumers rarely watch."

"We certainly have been damaged throughout the last year," FuboTV CEO David Gandler told Reuters. "The stock hasn't recovered to the price we achieved prior to the announcement of Venu."

The three companies said in a statement they believed Fubo's arguments were wrong and that they would appeal the court's ruling.

"Venu Sports is a pro-competitive option that aims to enhance consumer choice by reaching a segment of viewers who currently are not served by existing subscription options," they said.

Earlier this month, Venu Sports announced plans to launch in the fall.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in New York said in the ruling that a temporary injunction blocking the new streaming venture was appropriate, noting, "Fubo is likely to be successful in proving its claims that the JV will violate this country's antitrust laws, because Fubo and American consumers will face irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction."

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City and Jack Queen in New York; additional reporting by Dawn Chmielewski; Editing by Anil D'Silva, Noeleen Walder, Rosalba O'Brien and David Gregorio)