The 65-Year-Old Law That Still Shapes How You Watch Sports
Earlier this month, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr asked a pointed question: what happens to local broadcasting if live sports keep migrating to streaming platforms?
In a public notice, the FCC seeks comment on sports-broadcasting practices and market developments. The agency focuses on the growing shift of live sports from national broadcast networks to online streaming services—either simulcast alongside local broadcasts or offered exclusively online. The FCC worries that this shift could weaken local broadcasters’ ability to remain solvent and to fund local news and public-affairs coverage.
Those concerns carry some weight. Viewers have steadily moved away from traditional linear television toward on-demand streaming. As audiences fragment, linear-TV viewership has fallen sharply. Live sports have long resisted that trend. Because sports unfold in real time, they remain one of the few categories that still anchor the linear-TV model. As leagues and distributors move those games to streaming platforms, local broadcasters risk losing both viewers and the advertising revenue that supports their local programming.
The FCC’s concern, though, applies to local broadcasting as a distribution channel—not to the underlying production of local content. Just as television shows and movies migrated online, local news and community commentary increasingly appear on digital platforms. Local bloggers, YouTubers, and independent outlets now perform many of the same functions once dominated by local television anchors, often tailoring coverage to niche community interests. Even if local broadcast stations struggle, the overall production of local content may continue to expand.
Broadcast television could still play a role in the sports ecosystem. Many fans do not want to subscribe to multiple streaming services just to follow their teams. For those viewers, some franchises might prefer broadcast deals with local stations that offer broader reach. League-wide rules often restrict those arrangements. Ordinarily, such collective restraints would face antitrust scrutiny. Joint agreements among teams in the four major U.S. professional leagues—the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB), and National Hockey League (NHL)—receive special treatment under federal law. The Sports Broadcasting Act (SBA) exempts certain league agreements for “sponsored telecasting” from antitrust liability.
If federal policymakers want to give local broadcasters a fair chance to compete with digital rivals, Congress should reconsider that exemption. Repealing the SBA would subject league-wide broadcast restrictions to antitrust law’s rule-of-reason analysis. If those restraints genuinely enhance competition, courts will uphold them. If they do not, the law should not shield them.