The FCC is seeking the public’s comment on sports’ migration from free, over-the-air broadcasts to streaming services.
In a public notice on Wednesday, the agency states that live sports and broadcast TV have enjoyed a “long and mutually beneficial relationship” in which leagues leverage the partnership to grow their fan base and expand their revenue. In return, TV stations use the popularity of live sports and the advertising revenues from the programming to support their own industry and operations, including funding local news and reporting.
While acknowledging that streaming has helped expand access to professional and collegiate sports, the FCC also notes that they have contributed to the fragmentation of the sports media marketplace.
For example, the agency says that NFL games aired on 10 different services in 2025, which could cost a consumer over $1,500 to watch everything. It added that 20 NFL regular season games and one playoff game were nationally distributed, exclusively, on four different streaming services—Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Peacock and Netflix.
“For decades, Americans enjoyed turning on their TV & quickly finding the game they wanted to see. Yet watching your favorite team play isn’t as easy these day. Many games are still on broadcast, but an increasing number are on a range of different online platforms,” FCC chairman Brendan Carr said in an X post on Wednesday. “We want to understand the marketplace today, the experience of consumers, and how the changes impact the ability of broadcast TV stations to continue delivering local news, information, and other programming.”
The notice asks commenters to address the current and emerging trends in the distribution of live sports programming by explaining how the marketplace is benefitting or harming consumers, how fragmentation is impacting local broadcast stations’ ability to meet their public interest obligations and how future changes may impact consumer access to free over-the-air news and information, including public safety information. Specific questions include the following:
- With respect to the sports media marketplace, how have recent developments in the marketplace affected the ability of broadcasters to obtain media rights to sports programming?
- How have changes in the marketplace affected viewers’ ability to watch nationally televised live sports, as well as their local team(s), on broadcast TV?
- What type of rights (e.g. exclusive, simulcast, replay) are included in
agreements between leagues or conferences and national video programming distributors? - How prevalent are sports media rights deals between local TV broadcasters and local sports teams and what are their terms and conditions?
- How have changes in the marketplace impacted costs to consumers?
- While the NFL requires streamers to syndicate/simulcast games over TV broadcast stations in the local markets of the competing teams, this is a private contractual arrangement between the NFL and its distributors. Do any other professional or collegiate sports also have such a requirement?
- Are there relevant differences between games being distributed on linear streamlining services versus other streaming platforms?
- Are there any SBA implications associated with games distributed through non-broadcast channels? Does it matter if the distribution platforms are subscription-based services or not?
- To what extent do current sports media rights contracts conflict with or impede TV broadcasters from meeting their public interest obligations? How should these arrangements be considered in the context of broadcasters’ public interest obligations and the FCC’s duty to ensure licensees meet their statutory requirements? Does it impact consumer access to public safety and other emergency information?
- What role does the FCC have and what steps could it take to ensure any broadcast licensee responsibilities are fulfilled?
- Do local broadcast TV stations face challenges in airing other sports programming of interest to their local communities (e.g., local high school sports)?
- With one or more significant sports rights deals coming up for renewal, how should those negotiations factor into the FCC’s analysis?
Comments will be due on March 27, with the deadline for replies set for April 13.
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