Last year, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that Disney would be teaming up with two previous competitors to launch a brand-new app for the ultimate sports fan. Disney, Fox Sports, and Warner Bros. Discovery were going to launch a new app called Venu, where subscribers would be able to watch content from the NBA, MLB, NFL, PGA, and more.
While Disney and its sports fans might have been excited, streaming service competitor Fubo was not. Fubo first launched in 2015 as an app for big soccer fans. However, in 2017, Fubo added more sports to the app, making it one of the premier sports apps in North America and Spain.

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Not long after Disney announced the plans for its new app, Fubo filed a lawsuit to block the merger. Fubo claimed that, if Disney were allowed to work with Fox Sports and Warner Bros., they would be creating a monopoly and violating antitrust laws. A judge agreed with Fubo, granting the company’s injunction and preventing the trio from moving forward.
Then, in early January, Disney and Fubo announced that the lawsuit had been withdrawn. That happened after Disney purchased a 70% controlling interest in Fubo and the two were merging. The move shocked many but left some hope that a new sports app might be coming down the pike.

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Once again, those hopes were dashed.
Just a few days later, Disney announced that it was abandoning its Venu venture and ending its work with Fox Sports and Warner Bros. Disney spent millions on the project, but rumors were swirling that the Department of Justice was closely eyeing the merger and any potential monopoly it might create.
While you might think that, in the end, it was no harm, no foul, but you would be wrong. Despite Disney ending any threats of a sports streaming monopoly, one Fubo customer has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company and is hoping a judge grants it class-action status.

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According to a report from Deadline, Cole Unger filed his lawsuit with the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, accusing Disney of a “multifaceted campaign to suppress competition in the market for live television streamed over the internet to paying subscribers.”
“Disney’s ownership of ESPN, which domanted the market for broadcast licenses from the major professional sports associations, enables it to extract monopoly rents in the SLPTV market via anti-competitive tactics including,” the suit says, “forcing streaming services to carry Disney’s non-ESPN content in order to access ESPN [and] forcing streaming services to include ESPN, the nation’s most expensive content channel, as part of their base–or cheapest–package for consumers.”

The lawsuit states that Mr. Unger is looking for “all forms of available relief under this statute, including actual damages, treble damages, and reasonable costs and attorneys’ fees.”
However, it is possible that a judge will throw out his lawsuit due to the fact that there was no merger, Fubo was not affected, and no monopoly was created. The judge could rule that Mr. Unger did not suffer any damages because nothing happened.
Do you think Mr. Unger has a case? Should be able to sue Disney over a streaming app and merger that never happened? Share your thoughts in the comments!