Regulators Shouldn’t Blow the Whistle on Venu Sports Just Yet

Add Congress to the list of entities very concerned about the upcoming Venu Sports service.

Earlier this month, U.S. Representatives Jerry Nadler and Joaquin Castro sent their second letter to the CEOs of Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, requesting more details on the companies’ joint-venture sports streaming platform and citing “insufficient” responses from the executives thus far.

With the Justice Department also reportedly probing Venu and a lawsuit pending against the partner companies, one would think the service is in danger of running seriously afoul of antitrust regulations. Certainly, the congressmen think so.

“We are concerned that this joint venture — which unites the owners of 80 percent of all sports media content — could reduce competition and leave consumers worse off,” Nadler and Castro wrote in their letter.

It’s a reasonable assumption, to be sure, upon hearing that three media behemoths are teaming up on a product, particularly in the high-profile streaming business. But even a slightly closer inspection reveals some of the key regulatory concerns surrounding Venu are overblown — or at least misdirected.

“Leave consumers worse off”? First of all, what consumer is going to complain about only needing one service to stream all of these sports, instead of three or more? Certainly, the entrance of yet another subscription platform into the crowded streaming space seems like cause for alarm, but Venu should give consumers a way to consolidate and reduce their subscriptions, rather than simply add another to the pile.