Less than two weeks since Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox launched their own hastily conceived, prematurely announced, and semi-hostile sports streamer—henceforth known as Spulu in these digital pages—some of their ulterior motives are becoming increasingly clear. Yes, as I noted, they are collectively looking to lure a generation of “cord-nevers” onto the service. And, as my Puck partner Julia Alexander recently wrote, executives like Bob Iger are likely using the service as an R&D lab to help float a future ESPN service. But there’s another reason, too, that these companies all got together, and it flicks at the relationships-based essence of this very business: It was a warning shot fired at Comcast and Paramount.

Disney and Fox, after all, have pursued a strategy intended to keep the cable bundle as healthy as possible for as long as possible. Fox keeps all of its live sports on its broadcast and cable channels; virtually none of it gets streamed outside the bundle. Same with ESPN, which has a direct-to-consumer service in ESPN+ that carries little programming from ESPN’s linear TV channels. Comcast and Paramount, however, have taken the exact opposite approach—one that Disney and Fox executives, in particular, have consistently viewed as reckless. It’s not just that both companies multicast their sports on cable and streaming—including NFL games, such as top-rated Sunday Night Football on Peacock and NBC. These companies, particularly Comcast, also sell their services at cut-rate prices, which undermine a pay TV business that is already stressed.