Fox Corporation

Fox Corporation owns the Fox broadcast network, Fox Sports, and the Tubi streaming service. After the Disney acquisition of 21st Century Fox's studios, this Fox is the news and sports company that remained.

Live sports rights are bought in exclusive packages. A league that sells Sunday afternoon football to one broadcaster allocates that audience. Rival streamers cannot show the same game. That exclusivity is how sports on television has always worked, and it is also why a joint venture of several rights owners — Venu — alarmed distributors.

Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced Venu, a sports-only bundle. Fubo sued and won a preliminary injunction. The partners dropped Venu in January 2025. Fox still holds the underlying rights and still licenses them on its own channels.

Tubi is an ad-supported streamer Fox uses as a second window. It does not replace the exclusive live game. The competitive power is the rights contract, not the app.

Exclusive sports licenses foreclose rival distributors for that game.

Venu showed how three rights owners combining windows raised a Section 1 and merger-style complaint. The venture was abandoned.

Retransmission disputes with cable companies are vertical fights over the price of carrying Fox channels.

A further purchase of a regional sports network or a league stake would concentrate rights again.

Fans need the channel that bought the game. Blackouts and bundle requirements follow from exclusivity, not from a lack of apps.

Bars and restaurants pay for commercial sports packages priced off the same exclusive rights.