The upcoming sports streaming initiative between media giants Fox (NASDAQ:FOX), Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ:WBD), and ESPN (NYSE:DIS) is rolling on, regardless of lawsuits from FuboTV (NYSE:FUBO) seeking to halt it. It’s even gone so far as to install a CEO for the operation, with a former Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) executive stepping in. The move hurt sports streamer Fubo, down over 2.5%, but gave each part of the coalition a fractional boost in Friday afternoon’s trading.
The coalition turned to former Apple staffer Pete Distad, who also spent several years with the streaming platform Hulu. Distad will be tasked with a range of responsibilities, including the platform’s marketing plans, distribution, sales efforts, and overall strategy, among other things. Distad, for his part, believes this is “…an incredible opportunity to build and grow a differentiated product that will serve passionate sports fans in the U.S. outside of the traditional pay TV bundle.”
The Fubo Gambit
Such a move, of course, would likely be the death blow of FuboTV. It made a competitive advantage out of being one of the few places to readily find streaming sports content. A simple, easy-to-use platform from a coalition like Fox, Warner, and ESPN would be a comparative disaster for Fubo. In fact, Fubo is looking at “billions in damages” and has filed an antitrust suit accordingly.
The firm alleges that “…for decades, defendants have leveraged their iron grip on sports content to extract billions of dollars in supra-competitive profits from distributors and consumers.” That’s going to be a tough charge to dodge, but only time will tell if the coalition can pull out a win.
Which Sports Streaming Stock Is a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, FUBO stock is the clear leader right now. This Moderate Buy-rated stock offers investors a 97.35% upside potential against its $2.98 average price target. Conversely, DIS stock is the laggard, as this other Moderate Buy-rated stock with an average price target of $119 offers only a 5.57% upside potential.
