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After the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced last week that it would seek public comment on the ongoing shift of live sports from broadcast channels to streaming services, the United States Senate Judiciary Committee is calling for a review of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961.
Congress passed the law to allow leagues to bundle their media rights and sell them nationally, a move that helped NFL games become a staple of free network television. Today, those same collective rights deals are increasingly splintering across streaming platforms, sparking a backlash from fans frustrated by paywalls and platform hopping.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, wrote a letter to Acting Deputy Attorney General Omeed A. Assefi and Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson seeking answers.
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A general view of the Seattle Seahawks’ defense against the New England Patriots during the Super Bowl LX game on February 8, 2026, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. (Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“I applaud the president [Donald] Trump and his Administration for addressing affordability for American consumers. To watch every NFL game last season, football fans spent nearly $1,000 on cable and streaming subscriptions. In practice, this requires subscribing to multiple streaming services and maintaining high-speed Internet on top of a traditional cable or satellite package. The resulting fragmentation has led to consumer confusion and rising costs for viewers trying to watch their teams…” Lee wrote in a letter obtained Monday by Pak Gazette Digital.
“The modern distribution environment differs substantially from the conditions that precipitated this exemption. Instead of a small number of free-to-air networks, the NFL now licenses games simultaneously to subscription streaming platforms, premium cable networks, and technology companies operating under different business models. To the extent that collectively licensed game packages are placed behind subscription paywalls, these agreements may no longer align with the legal concept of sponsored streaming television or the consumer access logic underlying the exemption. antitrust.
The NFL shield logo at midfield during the Munich 2024 NFL Game at Allianz Arena. (Images by Kirby Lee-Imagn)
“Accordingly, I request that your antitrust agencies examine the Sports Broadcasting Law and its applicability to the current media landscape.”
Lee ended his letter by stating that he wants the parties to “evaluate whether the statute continues to serve consumers or whether it should be revised to reflect modern market conditions.”
If one were to strictly stream every NFL game during the 2025 season on Sunday Ticket, Netflix, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN Unlimited and NFL+, it would have cost them a minimum of $575, and for others (previous Sunday Ticket watchers) almost $800.
“From a consumer perspective, they’ve been accustomed, for a long time, to you sitting down, turning on the TV, and finding your favorite sports game right there,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told Pak Gazette Digital on Wednesday night. “Either it was free or it was already part of the TV package you already purchased. In recent years, we’ve seen a significant number of games move behind paywalls. I think that’s been really frustrating for a lot of consumers.”
Sports leagues have capitalized on the shift to streaming, with the NFL getting $1 billion a year to stream Thursday Night Football on Amazon as an example. The Sports Broadcasting Act exemption passed in 1961 applies only to television broadcasts.
A look at the ESPN logo. (Mike Windle/Getty Images for ESPN)
Courts have ruled in the past that it does not apply to other media, including cable, satellite and streaming. The Sports Broadcasting Act includes a rule allowing blackouts of home games, which still applies to out-of-market packages sold by leagues.
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