Warren, Sanders, Castro urge DOJ to probe joint streamed sports venture

A group of congressional Democrats is urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to probe a planned joint streaming sports venture by some of the nation’s largest media conglomerates.

Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox Corp. and The Walt Disney Co. are among the media behemoths that have partnered on Venu a direct-to-consumer streaming venture that will provide NFL, MLB, NHL and other games to fans.

A subscription to Venu, which is slated to launch this fall, will cost consumers more than $40 monthly and will be a first of its kind partnership among the media titans.

In a letter this week, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) asked the DOJ and FCC to “closely scrutinize” the joint venture, which the lawmakers say would enable the companies to “discriminate against competitors and increase prices for consumers.”

“This massive new sports streaming company would be poised to control more than 80% of nationally broadcast sports and more than half of all national sports content, putting it in a position to exercise monopoly power over televised sports,” the lawmakers wrote.

The lawmakers noted in their letter the average cost of a subscription to a streaming service rose by nearly 25 percent last year.

The joint venture comes as legacy media companies are facing an existential threat to their business model and brand value created by Big Tech’s entrance into the world of live, unscripted content.

Companies like Netflix, Amazon and Apple have invested billions into live sports coverage, with more growth expected in the coming years.

Live sports continue to serve as the single largest driver of audience for most major media companies as they look to trim losses on linear assets and retool themselves around streaming.