U.S. House members question Disney, partners on ESPN streaming platform
Two congressmen are pressing Walt Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery for assurances that a new sports streaming platform which includes ESPN will not send prices up, given the rights they hold to a swath of programming that includes the NFL, NBA and other professional and college sports packages.
Disney is majority shareholder of ESPN, with Hearst Corp. holding a 20 percent share of the Bristol-based sports giant. In the past year, Disney reportedly has explored bringing in additional ESPN investors, possibly to include major sports leagues.
Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery announced the venture earlier this year with the goal of launching it by the fall. FuboTV filed a lawsuit earlier this year in federal court challenging the platform and ESPN’s pricing policies for other streamers that want to carry its programming.
The companies have until April 30 to address questions by U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-TX, with the U.S. Department of Justice to receive a copy of those responses. Nadler, D-N.Y., is ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, ROhio.
Among other questions, Nadler and Castro want the companies to explain whether the joint venture will make the channels available that they include on the platform to other streaming providers “on non-discriminatory terms” as stated in the letter.
“As programmers, your companies exert tremendous influence over pricing across the live sports TV ecosystem,” Nadler and Castro wrote in their letter. “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.”
ESPN and fellow Disney subsidiary ABC got 18.9 million viewers for this month’s NCAA women’s basketball championship matchup between undefeated South Carolina and Iowa led by superstar Caitlyn Clark, the largest total for any basketball game since 2019 according to Nielsen.