FCC Chair Brendan Carr told The Post Friday that the NFL could lose its antitrust exemptions if it sticks too many live games behind paywalls, as the agency clamps down on pro leagues’ deals with streaming services.
Leagues are currently protected from antitrust action under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which has allowed individual teams’ TV rights to be pooled into massive packages – but as Carr noted, this exemption applies to “the sponsored telecasting” of games.
“There’s a live question at this point about whether putting games on Netflix or YouTube TV or other entities like that … is that a sponsored telecast or is that something else?” Carr told The Post in an interview Friday.
“And if it’s something else, then it’s not clear that the antitrust exemption applies.”
The Federal Communications Commission last month asked the public for comment on how the shift from traditional broadcasts to streamers has impacted consumers, as they shell out as much as $1,500 a year to watch every pro football game – a potential first step before a more serious probe.
The majority of sports fans – a whopping 72% – think major sporting events should be required to stay on free broadcast television, according to a Fox News survey published Friday.
In the meantime, outraged fans are only seeing streamers grow more expensive, as Netflix on Thursday hiked all its subscription tiers by at least $1. Its premium plan now costs $26.99 a month, up from $24.99, while its ad-supported option jumped to $8.99 a month, up from $7.99.
“For so long, Americans were used to just sitting down and grabbing the remote and just very quickly and easily finding the game,” Carr told The Post.
“Over the last couple of years, that experience has become much more frustrating and people have to sign up for multiple streaming services and they have to pay out of pocket for more of these and it’s difficult to find the game.”
A growing number of NFL games require a streaming subscription, though they aren’t available on a pay-per-view basis.
Carr indicated he viewed streaming fees as a paywall.
He told Semafor there is “a point at which you sort of tip the scale, and they’ve just put too many games behind a paywall, and then that whole exemption collapses.”
When asked whether the FCC is considering an investigation into the NFL, Carr told The Post there is “no concrete idea in mind,” but suggested that the issue could possibly require action from the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission or members of Congress.
The 1960s antitrust exemption has allowed teams to act as a single entity during negotiations to secure leaguewide TV deals – and Carr questioned whether this rule should extend to broadcasters, as well.
“You have collective bargaining on one side, which is the leagues,” Carr told The Post. “Should broadcasters then sort of get an ability to similarly collectively bargain?”
That could allow TV giants like CBS and FOX, for example, to work together as they negotiate media rights or the renewal of an NFL contract, Carr said.
He also questioned the antitrust exemption during an event in Washington, DC, on Thursday.
The NFL has argued that streamers have largely begun to replace broadcasters as consumers’ go-to method for watching television, previously telling The Post that it has “the most accessible, fan-friendly distribution model across all of sports and entertainment.”
It did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The FCC noted in its filing last month that sports media rights fees have “exponentially increased” since Congress passed the antitrust legislation in the 1960s.
In 1961, for example, the National Football League entered into a two-year rights agreement with CBS worth $9.8 million – far below its most recent media rights deals valued at more than $10 billion per year, according to the FCC.
Pricey media rights deals have turned the NFL into a serious money-making business, with nearly all of the league’s 32 teams led by billionaires – including Walmart heir Rob Walton, who owns the Denver Broncos, and the Hunt family’s claim on the Kansas City Chiefs.
The NFL holds media rights agreements with streamers owned by Disney, Paramount, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, NFL Network, Amazon, Google and Netflix – which are expected to rake in more than $100 billion in sports rights fees, the FCC said.
Fox Corporation shares common ownership with The Post’s parent company, News Corp.
Other major professional sports leagues similarly hold several media rights deals with multiple streaming services worth billions of dollars.
The commission also noted that broadcast stations have heavily relied on advertising revenue from games to support local news and reporting.
