FuboTV Subscribers File Antitrust Class Action Against Disney Over Allegedly Inflated Plan Prices
Unger v. The Walt Disney Company
Filed: January 14, 2025 ◆§ 1:25-cv-00375
A class action alleges Disney’s ownership of ESPN and its resulting monopoly over the live sports streaming market have caused FuboTV subscribers to pay higher prices for the platform.
A proposed class action lawsuit alleges the Walt Disney Company’s ownership of ESPN and its resulting monopoly over the live sports streaming market have caused FuboTV subscribers to pay higher prices for the platform.
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The 51-page antitrust lawsuit accuses Disney of engaging in a “multifaceted campaign” to stifle competition within the market for streaming live pay television, which includes subscription-based streaming services that allow consumers to watch live television channels without having to pay for expensive cable packages.
The case notes that Disney’s ownership of ESPN makes it the dominant licensor for sports broadcast media rights. According to the filing, Disney’s control over “must-have” ESPN broadcast content has allowed it to insert anticompetitive contract clauses into its carriage agreements with streaming services.
For one, the defendant forces competitors like Fubo—a self-described “sports-first” streaming platform—into spending millions of dollars each year on unwanted, non-sports content in order to carry ESPN, the suit asserts. Disney also requires streaming services to include the sports channel in their “base” or lowest-price bundles for consumers despite it being the most expensive content for a streaming service to carry, the complaint shares.
In addition, the agreements include “most favored nation” clauses that apply upward price pressure on every rival live TV streaming service other than Disney-owned Hulu, the lawsuit claims.
“Together, these carriage agreements—which now cover all of Disney’s leading competitors in the [streaming live pay television] market—allow Disney to use ESPN and Hulu to set a price floor in the [streaming live pay television] market and to inflate prices market-wide by raising the prices of its own products. And this is exactly what Disney has done since it took operational control of Hulu in May of 2019. Disney uses its control over the Relevant Market to drive costs up for competitors like Fubo.”
The suit alleges that Disney’s anticompetitive conduct has forced Fubo to nearly double the prices it charges subscribers. Fubo’s basic package went from $54 per month in 2019 to $79.99 per month in 2024, the filing says.
“In a market free of Disney’s unlawful restraints, streaming services would be able to offer their products in the Relevant Market at lower prices,” the case contends. “However, ESPN’s carriage agreements allow Disney to distort the market, harming competition, throttling innovation, reducing output, and raising prices.”
The Disney antitrust lawsuit looks to represent any individuals, businesses, entities or corporations in the United States who have paid for a FuboTV subscription at any time since January 1, 2021.
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