April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers Jerry Nadler and

Joaquin Castro on Tuesday raised competition concerns over the

sports streaming joint venture planned by Walt Disney ( DIS ),

Fox and Warner Bros Discovery ( WBD ).

The congressmen questioned how the new offering would affect

access, competition, and choice in the sports streaming market

in a letter to the media companies' CEOs.

"We are concerned that this consolidation will result in

higher prices for consumers and less fair licensing terms for

upstream sports leagues and downstream video distributors," they

said in a letter addressed to Disney's ( DIS ) Bob Iger, Fox's Lachlan

Murdoch and Warner Bros' David Zaslav.

They urged the companies to respond to their queries by

April 30 and also send their responses to the Department of

Justice (DoJ).

In February, the three media companies had announced that

they would launch a joint venture to start a sports streaming

service this autumn to capture younger viewers who are not tuned

in to television.

The deal has, however, come under scrutiny from the DoJ,

according to media reports, while it is also facing an antitrust

lawsuit from sports-focused streaming service FuboTV ( FUBO ).

Disney ( DIS ) and Warner Bros did not immediately respond to a

request for comment. Fox declined to comment.

The three companies have a broad portfolio of professional

and collegiate sports rights, which span the National Football

League, the National Basketball Association, Major League

Baseball, FIFA World Cup and college competitions.

A new app would provide non-exclusive access to a collection

of television sports networks, including ESPN ( DIS ), Fox Sports 1 and

TNT, as well as to content that is streamed.