FCC chairman questions NFL’s antitrust protection as league shifts to streaming services

NFL fans volition apt person to walk much to ticker the league’s afloat slate of games each week successful 2026. 

A YouTube TV "NFL Sunday Ticket" subscription tin outgo respective 100 dollars, but does not supply entree to each game. Fans indispensable besides subscribe to Amazon Prime, Peacock and Netflix to ticker the afloat slate. All-in costs for these packages transcend $1,500, but that fig does not see fees oregon net costs.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr has made it a precedence to enactment American sports fans arsenic the NFL, NBA, MLB and different leagues determination cardinal games from broadcast and cablegram tv to costly streaming services. However, the NFL could suffer its antitrust exemption if excessively galore games are placed down a paywall, Carr said this week.

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The NFL shield logo connected the tract astatine SoFi Stadium connected Nov. 25, 2024 successful Inglewood, California. (Kirby Lee/magn Images)

"Does the NFL inactive payment from the antitrust exemption erstwhile they’re negotiating for carriage of games not connected a sponsored telecast, but connected a streaming service?" Carr said astatine an lawsuit successful Washington, D.C., connected Thursday, via Semafor. "That’s a precise live, precise ripe question."

Carr cautioned determination is "a constituent astatine which you benignant of extremity the scale, and they’ve conscionable enactment excessively galore games down a paywall, and past that full exemption collapses."

NFL FANS CALL THE LEAGUE'S STREAMING STRATEGY A 'MONEY GRAB' AS COSTS SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL

A 1961 instrumentality allows the NFL to negociate leaguewide TV deals without violating U.S. antitrust rules, provided it meets definite conditions, including protecting lawsuit access. The stakes are precocious if the NFL's antitrust exemption goes away, peculiarly if idiosyncratic franchises statesman selling their TV rights separately.

Carr pointed to broader implications for media rights negotiations. "If the NFL teams were capable to collectively negotiate," helium said, "should the broadcasters, perhaps, beryllium capable to collectively negociate arsenic well?"

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr speaks astatine a quality league pursuing an FCC gathering successful Washington, D.C., connected Feb. 18, 2026. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital contacted the NFL for comment, but league officials did not instantly respond.

Last month, the FCC said it would question nationalist remark connected the displacement of unrecorded sports from broadcast channels to streaming platforms. The remark play runs done March 27, and replies are owed April 13.

The FCC nether the Trump medication is seeking nationalist comments connected the ongoing displacement of unrecorded sports from broadcast channels to streaming services. (Getty Images)

Carr acknowledged that the rising outgo and sometimes inconvenient quality of sports streaming are frustrating fans, arguing the drawbacks yet outweigh the benefits.

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Carr acknowledged the rising outgo and sometimes inconvenient quality of sports streaming are frustrating fans, arguing the drawbacks yet outweigh the benefits.

"Americans are frustrated erstwhile they beryllium down and can’t find the crippled they privation to watch. And that feeling grows lone worse erstwhile they recognize that they mightiness request to motion up for different streaming work to ticker the game," Carr antecedently told Fox News Digital. 

"There has agelong been a beardown and mutually beneficial narration betwixt sports leagues and broadcasters, and consumers volition payment if that continues," Carr continued. "I privation to spot Americans proceed to payment from escaped over-the-air sports programming."

Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.

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