The confrontation between streaming TV service Fubo and Warner Bros. Discovery continues to escalate. Fubo announced in a late afternoon press release that it had canceled Discovery networks effective immediately — “including Discovery, HGTV, Food Network and TLC, among others” — and had failed to reach a separate agreement to resolve the Turner sports networks TNT, TBS, and truTV to its customers.
The company claims it had little choice but to abandon the lineup of Discovery channels after talks with WBD failed to produce results, accusing WBD of malicious negotiations and an “abuse of massive market power that ultimately undermined the choices of the.” restricts consumers”.
Fubu says it offered WBD “market prices” to secure all of that content, but never received a counteroffer. The entertainment giant is said to have insisted on “above market prices”. Fubo continues to sound the alarm, essentially saying that this is exactly the kind of behavior it predicted when Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney and Fox announced plans to develop their own sports-focused streaming service.
Fubo wasted no time in suing the companies, hoping to either ensure fair terms on its own streaming deals long into the future or, failing that, block the service’s launch entirely. It has received support from Dish and DirecTV, both of which have expressed concerns that they could be put at a disadvantage in competing with the sports megaservice.
Here is a portion of today’s press release from Fubo:
Warner Bros. Discovery has also denied our customers the ability to subscribe to their Turner Sports content separately from Discovery content through a cheaper Skinny Sports package. Still, Warner Bros. Discovery has announced that it plans to bring this must-have content as part of its upcoming sports streaming joint venture with The Walt Disney Company and Fox Corp. to make available.
This all sounds like the familiar back and forth we often hear when streaming services and content owners argue over contract extensions. You ask too much is a constant refrain, and Fubo calls the removal of the Discovery networks its best attempt to “avoid passing these additional costs on to consumers.” Currently, the service’s plans start at $79.99 per month, so a price increase would put Fubo out of reach for even more people.
In the event that the Discovery networks stay away for the foreseeable future, shouldn’t Fubo get…cheaper? You would like to believe that! But it doesn’t usually work that way.
These are the networks that have disappeared to date:
The edge has reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery for comment. I expect the company will portray Fubo as the unreasonable party in this dispute.