by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Aug 8 – FuboTV has sued Disney, Fox and others or alleged antitrust violations in their Venu Sports joint venture, has this week been arguing for a preliminary injunction to halt Venu before it starts. Inner City Press is covering it.
On August 8 before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Margaret Garnett, defense witness Edwin Desser was cross examined by FuboTV's lawyer Rachel Anderson. Thread:
FubtoTV lawyer: Netflix, in terms of sports, only has WWE and that's scripted, right?
Desser: They've done some one-offs, golf and I think boxing. The co-CEO of Netflix has stated that the notion of people gathering to consume sports on their platform is interesting
Desser: Consider Amazon carrying NFL games. They were also on FOX, then Amazon bought exclusive rights for some billions of dollars.
FuboTV lawyer: What about Apple trying to buy PAC-12 basketball but it falling through? Desser: All PAC-12 fell through [Laughter]
Desser: Apple has a 10 year exclusive on MLS. FuboTV lawyer: Have you seen research that Raptor would have 98% of playoff games?
Desser: Doesn't sound like it. Half of March Madness is not going to be in Venu. And the AFC Championship -
FubtoTV lawyer: Under seal
Judge: You're excused Mr. Desser. Anyone from the defendants? Defense lawyer Engel: We have the director of distribution of FOX. Are we going to need to close the court?
Judge: We're getting comfortable with the procedures.
Defense: We have an exhibit under seal...
And so it goes.
The case is FuboTV Inc. et al. v. The Walt Disney Company, et al., 24-cv-1363 (Garnett)
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