House Judiciary Committee Raises Concerns over Sports Streaming Venture’s Impact on Consumers and Competition

Congressmen Jerrold Nadler and Joaquin Castro, both Democrats representing the House Judiciary Committee, have written a letter to the CEOs of Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery, and FOX. The letter sought more information about the companies’ new joint sports streaming venture known as “JV”. The unnamed JV is expected to launch this fall and brings together the three dominant programmers in the sports streaming industry. Collectively, they own 80% of all sports streaming content.

In their letter, Nadler and Castro expressed concerns over the potential impact of this consolidation on consumers and licensing terms for both sports leagues and video distributors. They believe that as programmers, these companies have significant influence over pricing in the live sports TV ecosystem. Upstream, programmers negotiate content licensing deals with sports leagues like the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. Downstream, programmers determine the terms on which video distributors can license programmers’ sports channels.

To investigate further, Nadler and Castro have requested more information from the companies about JV’s pricing, intent, and organizational structure. They have given them until April 30 to respond via email while also asking them to copy the Department of Justice in their reply. The purpose of these questions is to determine whether JV will reduce competition and harm consumers. The full copy of the letter can be read on the House Judiciary Committee’s website.