Overview
- Fox Corp and Sinclair told the FCC that the NFL’s antitrust exemption under the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act should not cover paywalled streaming services.
- A Wall Street Journal editorial from Rupert Murdoch’s board asked the league to explain why it still deserves the exemption.
- The NFL is pressing CBS to raise its Sunday package fee from about $2.1 billion to $3 billion by leaning on early opt-out clauses and interest from streamers.
- FCC Chair Brendan Carr publicly questioned whether the exemption applies to streaming as the agency gathers comments on sports moving off free broadcast TV.
- Analysts warn that losing the shield could splinter shared TV money, push teams to sell rights on their own, and raise costs for fans as more games move behind paywalls.