In November 2022, a group of nine plaintiffs sued Disney over claims that they have artificially driven up the costs of services like YouTube TV and DIRECTV STREAM.
The argument is that Disney’s ownership of ESPN has been used to drive up the price of streaming services. The complaint is that Disney if you want the Disney Channel, for example, you must also pay for ESPN.
Disney’s lawyers are asking a judge to dismiss the antitrust case, saying the plaintiffs “misconstrue basic antitrust and economic concepts.” Disney argues that the plaintiffs have failed to show a relevant antitrust market in which competition was hard.
Now the judge has ruled that this lawsuit can go forward, and Disney could not stop a proposed class action lawsuit against the company’s usage of ESPN to get higher TV rates.
The good news for Disney is that the defense is barred from asking for damages. Instead, they can only ask that the court block further violations of antitrust laws if they are found guilty, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter.
For years many companies have bundled channels together. Want TBS? You need to get all the Turner Networks, for example. Disney is not alone in this. Getting ESPN means networks also need to carry a bundle of Disney-owned channels.
It has long been a dream that consumers would be able to subscribe to just the channels they want. So far, though, content owners have won the right to continue saying if you want one channel, you must pay for a bundle of networks. The new Venue Sports streaming service, also owned in part by Disney, is closer than what we have had but is still far from the à la carte offering that many cord cutters have dreamed of.
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