TelevisaUnivision Pulls Spanish-Language Programming From Fubo Impacting Thousands of Hispanic Consumers
TelevisaUnivision Pulls Spanish-Language Programming From Fubo Impacting Thousands of Hispanic Consumers
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- FuboTV Inc. (d/b/a/ Fubo) (NYSE: FUBO), the leading sports-first live TV streaming platform, issued the following statement today:
Thousands of Spanish-speaking consumers across the U.S. have lost access to local news and weather - providing vital information affecting their communities - as a result of TelevisaUnivision pulling their programming from Fubo. This unfortunate development is the result of TelevisaUnivision refusing to offer what we believe to be fair and competitive rates.
Fubo has made considerable efforts and offered compromises to renew our long-standing content agreement for TelevisaUnivision and its affiliated channels. However, TelevisaUnivision presented us with a new contract with restructured terms that would increase prices by 25% for our subscribers. Furthermore, TelevisaUnivision’s unfair bundling and tying practices require Fubo subscribers to buy all of their channels, including the channels they don’t watch.
TelevisaUnivision, the biggest provider of Spanish language content in the U.S., is attempting to use its dominant market power to force Fubo to pay higher prices, resulting in our Spanish-speaking subscribers paying significantly more to receive vital local news and weather, as well as sports and popular entertainment programming, in Spanish. TelevisaUnivision further abuses our Hispanic customers who love sports: to get all of the sports content that TelevisaUnivision offers, Fubo subscribers still have to pay separately for Vix+.
As it is always Fubo’s mission to offer a leading selection of premium sports, news and entertainment content while also providing value, we cannot accept TelevisaUnivision’s conditions on behalf of our customers or our investors.
Fubo remains open to negotiating a new content agreement with TelevisaUnivision - but it must be fair and equitable for our subscribers. That includes accessing Spanish-language content in our Latino plan at a cost that is competitive.
Fubo has always been dedicated to serving the Hispanic community and we’re proud to offer a robust plan of the most-watched Spanish language programming for the lowest price, compared to other live TV streaming platforms. There is still Spanish-language content to enjoy on Fubo including networks like beIN Sports Español, Canela, Centroamerica TV, Cine Latino, Cine Sony Television, ESPN Deportes, Estrella, Estrella News, Euronews Espanol, FILMEX, FOX Deportes, Fubo Latino, Gol TV Spanish, Nat Geo Mundo, Noticias Telemundo Ahora, Nuestra Tele, Tastemade en Espanol, Telefe, Telemundo Acción, Todo Cine, Tr3s, TyC Sports and WAPA.
About Fubo
With a global mission to aggregate the best in TV, including premium sports, news and entertainment content, through a single app, FuboTV Inc. (d/b/a Fubo) (NYSE: FUBO) aims to transcend the industry’s current TV model. The company operates Fubo in the U.S., Canada and Spain and Molotov in France.
In the U.S., Fubo is a sports-first cable TV replacement product that aggregates more than 400 live sports, news and entertainment networks and is the only live TV streaming platform with every Nielsen-rated sports channel (source: Nielsen Total Viewers, 2023). Leveraging Fubo’s proprietary data and technology platform optimized for live TV and sports viewership, subscribers can engage with the content they are watching through an intuitive and personalized streaming experience. It was the first virtual MVPD to launch 4K streaming and MultiView, which it did years ahead of its peers, as well as Instant Headlines, a first-of-its-kind AI feature that generates contextual news topics as they are reported live on air.
Learn more at https://fubo.tv
Fubo Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements of FuboTV Inc. (“Fubo”) that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact are forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our business strategy and plans, partnerships, programming, pricing and distribution. The words “could,” “will,” “plan,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “approximate,” “expect,” “potential,” “believe” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements that Fubo makes due to a number of important factors, including but not limited to the following: our ability to achieve or maintain profitability; risks related to our access to capital and fundraising prospects to fund our financial operations and support our planned business growth; our revenue and gross profit are subject to seasonality; our operating results may fluctuate; our ability to effectively manage our growth; the long-term nature of our content commitments; our ability to renew our long-term content contracts on sufficiently favorable terms; our ability to attract and retain subscribers; obligations imposed on us through our agreements with certain distribution partners; we may not be able to license streaming content or other rights on acceptable terms; the restrictions imposed by content providers on our distribution and marketing of our products and services; our reliance on third party platforms to operate certain aspects of our business; risks related to the difficulty in measuring key metrics related to our business; risks related to preparing and forecasting our financial results; risks related to the highly competitive nature of our industry; risks related to the potential launch of the joint venture by Walt Disney Company, Fox Corporation and Warner Brothers Discovery; risks related to our technology, as well as cybersecurity and data privacy-related risks; risks related to ongoing or future legal proceedings; and other risks, including the effects of industry, market, economic, political or regulatory conditions, future exchange and interest rates, and changes in tax and other laws, regulations, rates and policies. Further risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those matters expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements are discussed in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ending June 30, 2024 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and our other periodic filings with the SEC. We encourage you to read such risks in detail. The forward-looking statements in this press release represent Fubo’s views as of the date of this press release. Fubo anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause its views to change. However, while it may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing Fubo’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241223267358/en/
Contacts
Investor Contacts
Ameet Padte, Fubo
ameet@fubo.tv
JCIR for Fubo
ir@fubo.tv
Media Contacts
Jennifer L. Press, Fubo
jpress@fubo.tv
Bianca Illion, Fubo
billion@fubo.tv
Source: fuboTV