Disney/Fox/WB’s Joint Sports Streaming Service, TBA Pricing Sparks Inquiry From Congressmen

Matt Webb Mitovich
·2 min read
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Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) have fired off a letter to Disney CEO Robert Iger, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, raising many (19, to be exact) questions about their upcoming joint sports streaming service.

Announced in February and on track for a fall debut, the as-yet-unnamed service (playfully dubbed “Spulu” by some industry types) will give subscribers access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+, allowing them to watch live NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL games, along with MMA fights, NASCAR races and other events.

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The app’s pricing has yet to be announced — and that is but one of many concerns raised by congressmen Nadler and Castro in their letter to the three CEOs (obtained by sister site Deadline).

Noting that “live sports events including the Super Bowl and the NCAA’s March Madness tournament accounted for 97 of the Top 100 most-watched TV broadcasts in 2023,” and that Disney, Fox and WB combined “exert tremendous influence over pricing across the live sports TV ecosystem,” Nadler and Castro write that the joint venture “raises questions about how this new offering would affect access, competition, and choice in the sports streaming market.

“Without more complete information about the pricing, intent, and organization of this new venture, we are concerned that this consolidation will result in higher prices for consumers and less-fair licensing terms for upstream sports leagues and downstream video distributors,” the letter reads.

To improve their understanding of the joint venture, Nadler and Castro have posed 19 questions to the CEOs, with an end-of-month deadline for answers. Among their queries:

▪”How will the Joint Venture Partners determine the pricing of their own sports channels
(e.g., Fox Sports, ESPN) included in the Joint Venture?”

▪”How do those prices compare to prices at which such channels are currently licensed to
third-party MVPDs [cable or satellite dish service providers] or virtual MVPDs [e.g. Roku, Sling TV]?”

And, among the knottier inquiries:

▪”The Joint Venture Partners currently bid against each other for sports content. However,
the new venture will be pooling sports content among the Joint Venture Partners. Will the
Joint Venture Partners continue to bid competitively against one another for sports rights
as they become available?”

Again, you can read the congressmen’s full inquiry here.

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