The Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it is reviewing the growing shift of live sports to pay TV and subscription services away from broadcast networks.
The FCC wants public comments on what action the agency “could take to ensure continued access by viewers to live sports through free over-the-air broadcast TV.” The FCC also is asking whether current sports media-rights contracts conflict with broadcasters meeting their public interest obligations.
The FCC noted that in 1961 the National Football League entered into a two-year rights agreement with CBS for $9.8 million and that, by comparison, recent NFL media-rights deals are worth more than $10 billion per year.
“Broadcast television stations used the popularity of live sports and the advertising revenues from the programming to support their own industry and operations, including funding the local news and reporting that are so important to our country,” the agency said.
