The Department of Justice has launched an investigation into the National Football League’s potentially anticompetitive practices, amid mounting concerns that it has become much more difficult and pricey for sports fans to watch their favorite teams, according to a report.
Leagues are currently protected from antitrust action under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which has allowed teams to pool their media rights together into massive TV packages.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr told The Post late last month that the NFL could lose its exemptions if it sticks too many live games behind paywalls, as fans shell out as much as $1,500 a year to watch every pro football game across several streaming services.
The nature and scope of the investigation, reported by the Wall Street Journal, were not immediately clear.
The NFL and Department of Justice did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
In February, the Federal Communications Commission asked the public for comment on how the shift from traditional broadcasts to streamers has impacted sports fans – a potential first step before a more serious probe.
Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who chairs the Senate’s antitrust subcommittee, filed a letter with the DOJ and FTC last month requesting a review of the NFL’s protections.
A growing number of NFL games require a streaming subscription, though they aren’t available on a pay-per-view basis.
Over seven in 10 sports fans think major sporting events should be required to stay on free broadcast television, according to a recent Fox News survey.
In the meantime, streamers have continued to hike their prices, with Netflix last month raising all of its monthly subscription tiers by at least $1.
“For so long, Americans were used to just sitting down and grabbing the remote and just very quickly and easily finding the game,” Carr told The Post in March.
“Over the last couple of years, that experience has become much more frustrating and people have to sign up for multiple streaming services and they have to pay out of pocket for more of these and it’s difficult to find the game.”
When asked whether the FCC is considering an investigation into the NFL, Carr told The Post there is “no concrete idea in mind,” but suggested that the issue could possibly require action from the DOJ, the FTC or members of Congress.
The FCC did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The NFL has argued that streamers have largely begun to replace broadcasters as consumers’ go-to way to watch content, and that it also offers NFL games in the local TV markets of the two teams playing.
Media rights agreements between the NFL and streamers owned by Disney, Paramount, Fox Corporation, NBCUniversal, NFL Network, Amazon, Google and Netflix are expected to rake in more than $100 billion in sports rights fees under their current contracts, according to the FCC’s filing in February.
Fox Corporation shares common ownership with The Post’s parent company, News Corp.
Pricey media rights deals have turned the NFL into a serious money-making business, with nearly all of the league’s 32 teams run by billionaires – including Walmart heir Rob Walton, who owns the Denver Broncos, and the Hunt family, which owns the Kansas City Chiefs.
The FCC noted noted that broadcast stations have historically leaned heavily on advertising revenue from games to support local news – another potential casualty of the shift to streaming.
The NFL is now looking to renegotiate its $2.1 billion annual agreement with CBS after the network’s owner, Paramount, was sold to Skydance Media in an $8 billion deal last summer.
If the league company reaches a new deal with CBS, it will likely look to renegotiate contracts with other media rights holders.
A spokesperson for Paramount did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
