House Members Question Disney, Fox, WBD Over Sports Streaming JV Terms

The proposed Disney/Fox/Warner Bros. Discovery sports streaming joint venture (see 2402070006) raises questions about sports streaming competition, choice and access, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said Tuesday in a letter to CEOs of the three companies. Pointing to concerns about higher prices for consumers and less-fair licensing terms for sports leagues and video distributors, the lawmakers posed a series of questions, such as whether the JV will distribute channels of non-JV partners, whether the three programmers will implement provisions that prevent anticompetitive sharing of pricing or other sensitive competitive information with each other, and. whether the three will continue bidding competitively against one another for sports rights as they become available.