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A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the launch of Venu Sports, the upcoming joint sports streaming project from Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney and Fox Corporation, dealing a major blow to the venture.

The decision followed a request by Fubo, a smaller rival sports streaming service, for an injunction against the upcoming streamer to stop its launch just weeks before the start of the NFL season.

“The Court believes that Fubo is likely to succeed in its claim that the (joint venture) defendants will substantially lessen competition and restrain trade in the relevant market by entering into the (joint venture),” U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett wrote in the preliminary injunction on Friday.

Fubo filed a lawsuit against the media giants in February over the planned launch of Venu Sports, arguing that the trio was trying to exploit its sports media rights to outcompete competitors and monopolize the market with a single, allegedly anti-competitive package.

Disney, Fox and WBD (CNN’s parent company) said in a joint statement Friday that they intend to appeal the judge’s ruling.

“We disagree with the court’s ruling and are appealing,” the companies said. “We believe Fubo’s arguments are incorrect as to the facts and law and that Fubo has failed to demonstrate that it is legally entitled to a preliminary injunction. Venu Sports is a pro-competitive option that aims to increase consumer choice by reaching a segment of viewers currently underserved by existing subscription options.”

The Venu Sports service costs $42.99 a month and is designed to give cable-avoiders access to a variety of sporting events from all media companies’ portfolios, including NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, tennis, soccer, golf, NASCAR racing and UFC fights.

Fubo’s share price rose more than 17% following the news on Friday.

“Today’s ruling is a victory not only for Fubo, but also for consumers,” Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler said in a statement. “This decision will help ensure consumers have access to a more competitive marketplace with multiple sports streaming options.”

A court date for the antitrust lawsuit has not yet been set.

Established media companies have been working for years to break free from their reliance on traditional cable and move to profitable streaming services as millions of consumers cancel their cable subscriptions each year—a shift sparked by the rapid rise of Netflix.

After pouring billions of dollars into their own streaming services, the heads of several major media companies – including Disney CEO Bob Iger and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav – recently signaled to consumers that they should expect more bundled offerings to simplify choice and retain subscribers.

When the Venu partnership was announced in February, Iger praised the venture as an “important step forward for the media industry,” and Zaslav said the partnership “demonstrates our ability as an industry to drive innovation.” Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said he believes the streamer will “provide passionate fans with a range of fantastic sports content outside of the traditional package.”

While WBD has made its existing live sports offering available on its Max streaming service, Disney also plans to launch a standalone ESPN streaming service direct to consumers next year.

“Venu was a small piece of a bigger puzzle and just one piece of it,” said a person familiar with the Disney situation. ESPN has “650 distributors, a flagship (streaming service) is coming and the industry is evolving really quickly, so there could be more creative packages or distribution platforms on the horizon.”

Oliver Darcy contributed to reporting.