GOP senator calls for revision to federal law as sports fans pay big on outrageous streaming prices

After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced past week that it would question nationalist comments connected the ongoing displacement of unrecorded sports from broadcast channels to streaming services, the United States Senate Committee connected the Judiciary is asking for a revision of the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act.

Congress passed the enactment to fto leagues excavation their media rights and merchantability them nationally — a determination that helped marque NFL games a staple of escaped web television. Presently, those aforesaid corporate rights deals are progressively being sliced up for streaming platforms, sparking backlash from fans frustrated by paywalls and level hopping.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, president of the Subcommittee connected Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights for the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote a missive to Acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed A. Assefi and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson seeking answers.

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A wide presumption of the Seattle Seahawks versus the New England Patriots defence during Super Bowl LX crippled connected Feb. 8, 2026, astatine Levi's Stadium successful Santa Clara, California. (Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

"I applaud President [Donald] Trump and his Administration for addressing affordability for American consumers. To ticker each NFL crippled during this past season, shot fans spent astir $1,000 connected cablegram and streaming subscriptions. In practice, this requires subscribing to aggregate streaming services and maintaining high-speed net successful summation to a accepted cablegram oregon outer bundle. The resulting fragmentation has produced user disorder and expanding costs for viewers attempting to ticker their teams ..." Lee wrote successful a missive Monday obtained by Fox News Digital.

"The modern organisation situation differs substantially from the conditions that precipitated this exemption. Instead of a tiny fig of escaped broadcast networks, the NFL present licenses games simultaneously to subscription streaming platforms, premium cablegram networks, and exertion companies operating nether antithetic concern models. To the grade collectively licensed crippled packages are placed down subscription paywalls, these arrangements whitethorn nary longer align with the statutory conception of sponsored telecasting oregon the consumer-access rationale underlying the antitrust exemption.

The NFL shield logo astatine midfield during the 2024 NFL Munich Game astatine Allianz Arena. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

"Accordingly, I petition that your antitrust enforcement agencies analyse the Sports Broadcasting Act and its applicability to existent media landscape."

Lee ended his missive by stating helium wants the parties to "evaluate whether the statute continues to service consumers oregon should beryllium revised to bespeak modern marketplace conditions."

If 1 were to strictly watercourse each NFL games passim the 2025 play connected Sunday Ticket, Netflix, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN Unlimited, and NFL+, it would person outgo them a minimum of $575, and others (prior Sunday Ticket watchers) astir $800.

"From a user perspective, they were utilized to, for a agelong time, you beryllium down, you flip connected the TV and you find your favourite sports crippled close there," FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told Fox News Digital Wednesday night. "It was either free, oregon it was already portion of the TV bundle that you already purchased. In the past mates of years, we've seen a question of a important fig of games down paywalls. I deliberation that's been truly frustrating for truthful galore consumers."

The sports leagues person cashed successful connected the pivot to streaming, with the NFL landing $1 cardinal a twelvemonth to aerial Thursday Night Football connected Amazon arsenic an example. The Sports Broadcasting Act exemption passed successful 1961 applies lone to broadcast television.

A look astatine the ESPN logo. (Mike Windle/Getty Images for ESPN)

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Courts person ruled successful the past that it does not use to different media, including cable, outer and streaming. The Sports Broadcasting Act includes a regularisation allowing blackouts of section games, which inactive applies to out-of-market packages sold by the leagues.

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