In a bid to assess the impact of a new sports streaming venture on competition and consumers, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler and Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX) have sent a letter to the Chief Executive Officers of Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery, and FOX. The unnamed joint venture (JV), which was announced in February and is set to launch this fall, brings together the three biggest players in the sports streaming industry. Together, they own rights to 80% of all sports streaming content.
As programmers, these companies have significant influence over pricing in the live sports TV ecosystem. They negotiate content licensing deals with sports leagues such as the NFL and NBA for media rights to sports events. Additionally, they determine the terms under which video distributors may license their sports channels.
The members are concerned that this consolidation could lead to higher prices for consumers and less favorable licensing terms for sports leagues and video distributors. To assess the impact of the JV on competition and consumers, they have asked the companies to respond to a series of questions about its intent, pricing, licensing, and organizational structure. The companies have until April 30 to provide their responses via email with instructions to copy the Department of Justice on their reply.
A full copy of the letter sent by Nadler and Castro can be found here [insert link].