it is The points we made last March. It’s worth mentioning again that the NFL acquired his two Christmas games from a terrestrial broadcast network and sent them to his new streaming partners.
At some point, as the NFL moves from broadcasting to streaming, and in response to fan needs. There are a growing number of services that allow you to watch all matches. — May face antitrust issues.
The issue dates back to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. This is a federal law that allows the NFL to sell television rights as a group, even though the NFL is made up of its own companies that must sell television rights individually.
Three years ago, an article published in the University of Iowa’s Corporate Law Journal said: Looming legal challenges for leagues in the streaming era. An argument could be made that the antitrust exemption in the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 does not apply to games available on streaming platforms.
Of course, someone has to raise the issue first. If any of the traditional broadcast networks were to file an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL over non-team-based streaming deals, that network would never have to worry about ever signing a contract with the NFL again. do not have. A class action lawsuit could be filed on behalf of consumers alleging that the league is abusing that exemption to sell league-wide packages to streaming companies, keeping them away from free terrestrial television. (The argument could be made that if individual NFL teams had to sign their own streaming deals, the league would be far more likely to keep all packages on its traditional TV networks. )
The league is certainly sensitive to the possibility of legal challenges. Whenever the league adds a new package that is not on the broadcast network, the league makes that game available on over-the-air television in the markets of the teams playing that game. In fact, in a recent conference call regarding this year’s schedule, the league specifically emphasized that 100% of all games will be available for viewing in the local markets of the teams playing those games.
We are not saying what should happen. We’re just pointing out what happens. The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 has potential limitations, especially since it was passed more than half a century before streaming existed.
At some point, the NFL can either get an expanded exemption from Congress to cover streaming, or wait for a lawsuit and argue that the law specifically covers 100 percent streaming of all games. This issue will need to be addressed. It is always available on the local market for the teams playing in those games.
