By Mike Scarcella
Nov 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department and 16 U.S. states said in a pair of court filings that they support a court order won by FuboTV FUBO.N in August that temporarily blocked Walt Disney DIS.N, Fox FOXA.O and Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O from launching a competing sports streaming venture.
The Justice Department, New York, Illinois, California and other states on Tuesday urged the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the preliminary injunction.
Sports-focused live TV streaming company Fubo in February sued to block the new venture, called Venu Sports, arguing it will violate U.S. antitrust law by reducing competition and driving up prices. Venu and the media giants have denied the claims, asserting that the platform will offer more consumer choice.
The Justice Department and state coalition, which included the District of Columbia, submitted Tuesday's filings as friend-of-the-court briefs to express their views. They are not part of the lawsuit.
Six other states, including Florida, backed the media companies and Venu in a brief filed in September.
Fubo in a statement said support from the Justice Department and states “reinforces our belief that the appellate court will uphold the preliminary injunction against the defendants.”
Venu has said “Fubo’s arguments are wrong on the facts and the law" and that Fubo had not shown it was entitled to the injunction.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Venu, which would combine thousands of live professional and collegiate sporting events into a single app, was scheduled to launch this fall. Disney, Fox and Warner Bros contend they have no “duty to deal” with Fubo to help it compete with Venu.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in her preliminary injunction ruling said Venu's media partners could "exercise near-monopolistic control" over sports rights to prevent rivals from emerging.
The Justice Department in its filing said a joint venture can be unlawful “even if that same conduct would be legal when done by a single firm.”
New York and the other states told the court that “just as forcing rivals to work together can harm competition, allowing rivals to agree to work together can also harm competition.”
The case is FuboTV et al v. The Walt Disney Company et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 24-2210.
Read more:
US judge delays launch of sports streaming venture from Disney, media giants
FuboTV files antitrust lawsuit to block Disney, Fox, Warner sports streaming deal
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)
((Mike.Scarcella@thomsonreuters.com;))
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