From the moment that Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced the launch of their ill-fated sports streaming service, Venu (né Spulu), back in February, it seemed that anyone and everyone not associated with the endeavor had a legitimate reason to be pissed off about it. The leagues, for their part, were mad that they were kept in the dark while the plan came together. CBS and NBC? They were upset that their competitors had surreptitiously joined forces.

For leagues and network executives, the hardest of hard feelings have at least somewhat dissipated over the past seven months, and they’ve largely made peace with the prospect of the service. But for distribution executives, the late-winter announcement engendered a level of fury I have rarely seen in my many years covering the business of sports. Even now, as Venu’s future teeters in the face of an antitrust challenge from FuboTV, distribution executives remain unequivocally irate.