(Reuters) -Walt Disney Co and streaming provider FuboTV are nearing a deal to combine their online live TV businesses, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Disney will fold its Hulu + Live TV business into FuboTV, creating a new venture that will be 70% owned by Disney and the rest by FuboTV, the report said.
Disney and FuboTV did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Following the report, shares of FuboTV, which had a market value of about $480 million as of last close, surged nearly 32% to $1.90 in premarket trading. Disney was up marginally.
As part of the deal, Fubo plans to drop its legal claims against Disney, Fox Corp and Warner Bros Discovery over Venu Sports, the report said, removing a hurdle to the roll-out of their upcoming sports streaming platform.
FuboTV had sued the big media companies last February, saying Venu Sports would violate U.S. antitrust law by reducing competition and driving up prices. A district court judge found that Fubo is likely to succeed in its antitrust claims, and issued the injunction temporarily barring Venu’s launch.
The three media majors will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals to reverse the ruling that blocked Venu’s launch in a hearing on Monday.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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