Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and Representative Joaquin Castro have sent a letter to the Justice Department asking it to investigate the case and potentially prevent Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. from forming a joint venture that would combine the resources of ESPN, Fox Sports and TNT Sports into a direct-to-consumer streaming service called Venu Sports.

In the letter, which The athleteThe three Democrats called on the Justice Department to investigate Venu Sports “and take action against it if it violates any antitrust or telecommunications laws or regulations.” They also believe that describing Venu as a joint venture should not shield it from closer scrutiny.

Venu Sports is set to launch soon at a price of $42.99 per month. Subscribers will not need a cable subscription and will be able to access all programming and games from the three networks and their affiliates (such as ABC and Fox), as well as ESPN+, the network’s additional direct-to-consumer service that offers niche sports.

ESPN plans to make its network available directly to consumers as a standalone product next year. The athlete As previously reported, it is expected to cost $25 to $30 per month.

Viewers can currently subscribe to services like YouTube TV for about $70 to $75, which includes all three networks as well as fellow major broadcasters NBC and CBS. Both networks also have their own direct-to-consumer streaming products.

Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch reiterated this week during his company’s earnings call that he expects Venu Sports to reach five million subscribers by 2029. Although the agreement is between the trio, Venu Sports’ subscription revenue is based on the same formula the networks receive from cable and satellite providers. ESPN, which earns over $10 per cable subscriber, is expected to receive the majority of Venu Sports’ revenue.

A Venu Sports spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

In the letter from Senators Warren and Sanders and Representative Castro, the trio raised “serious” concerns about Venu Sports, saying the company “is poised to control more than 80 percent of nationally broadcast sports and half of all national sports content, which would enable it to exercise a monopoly over televised sports. The market power of its three giant parent companies would enable it to discriminate against competitors and raise prices for consumers.”

Venu Sports is already facing a lawsuit from Fubo, a direct-to-consumer provider that carries ESPN and Fox Sports but not TNT. Fubo is seeking a preliminary injunction in a Manhattan district court to stop the service before it launches.

The senators and congressmen appear to agree with Fubo’s premise that ESPN, Fox Sports and TNT do not provide an opportunity for other platforms to merge the trio. They point out that Disney, ESPN’s parent company, often bundles its “other non-critical, low-demand channels and requires competing sports streaming platforms to purchase and display the entire package in order to access ESPN.” The letter also argues that a joint venture is inconsistent with the goals of the FCC’s national ownership cap, which prevents any broadcaster from reaching more than 39 percent of television households.

One of ESPN’s counterarguments is that in 2011 the channel was in around 100 million homes and, according to the latest figures from Nielsen, it is now in 66.5 million homes. ESPN needs to attract new customers who either cancel their cable or have never had cable or similar offers, so it proposes various prices ranging from $25 to $75 per month. Fox Sports does not offer any other paid streaming service, while TNT Sports is part of the Max platform, which includes HBO, among others.

The letter concludes that “the Department of Justice and the FCC should closely examine this transaction and take immediate action to block it if it violates antitrust laws or does not serve the ‘public interest, expediency and necessity.'”

You can read the entire letter here.

Required reading

(Photo: Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images)