Big Tech Sports Rights Threaten Local News Access

Broadcast station owners have urged U.S. regulators to address the growing trend of Big Tech companies acquiring rights to major sporting events, expressing concerns that this shift could undermine local television news. These companies submitted comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ahead of a Friday deadline.

The FCC has initiated a review into the increasing migration of live sports from broadcast networks to pay TV and subscription services. The agency is soliciting feedback on potential actions to guarantee that viewers can still access live sports through free over-the-air broadcasts.

Concerns articulated by major players like Fox Corp suggest that popular events such as the World Series and NFL Thanksgiving games could eventually become inaccessible to free TV viewers. This scenario is predicted to occur in a landscape where Big Tech leverages sports rights, often as a strategy to bolster other businesses that profit from user data. Sinclair, another significant station owner, directly informed the FCC that the absence of high-value live sports on broadcast television would negatively impact local journalism.

The National Association of Broadcasters highlighted that global streaming giants, including Amazon Prime, Alphabet, Apple, and Netflix, are utilizing live sports programming as a loss leader. While the NFL stated in February that over 87% of its games are aired on free broadcast TV, the FCC's review comes amid historical context.

In 1961, the NFL had a two-year rights agreement with CBS for $9.8 million. In stark contrast, recent NFL media rights deals are valued at over $10 billion annually. A 1961 law exempts major sports leagues from antitrust laws, allowing them to package and sell their television rights collectively. Fox has raised questions about the applicability of this law to sports leagues negotiating with paywalled streamers.

The FCC also noted the NFL's extensive media rights agreements with major companies like Walt Disney (ABC), Paramount (CBS), Fox, NBCUniversal, Amazon, and Google. These deals are projected to generate more than $100 billion in sports rights fees over their lifespan. Many sporting events previously available through free broadcast or traditional cable packages are now exclusively accessible via standalone subscription streaming, a development that has reportedly frustrated many sports fans.