WASHINGTON—The NAB has filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission outlining a host of problems that have been created by the shift of sports rights from free broadcasts to subscription-based streaming services.
The filing also outlined a number of measures, including ending station ownership caps and supporting the NextGen TV transition, that would improve access to free sports programming.
“From the viewer’s standpoint, there is no question that a model that once served both sports leagues and viewers is now underserving the average fan,” the NAB complained in the March 27 comments. “Global streaming behemoths like Amazon Prime, Alphabet (Google/YouTube), Apple, and Netflix, able to use live sports programming as a loss leader, have restricted access to sports programming using multiple paywalls, effectively forcing fans to use Gantt [product management] charts to locate their favorite team on television while being forced to subscribe to multiple services to do so. Watching televised sports has morphed from being an experience that bound us together to a maddening one that hurts the entire video ecosystem.”
To address that problem, the NAB urged the FCC to: reexamine antitrust exemptions that allow major professional sports leagues like the NFL to collectively negotiate media rights; end station ownership caps that make it harder for broadcasters to compete; and enact regulations that would speed the transition to the new broadcast standard NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0 that offers much better visual and audio for sports programming.
The NAB made those proposals at a time when some studies have found viewers would need to pay upwards of $2,500 and subscribe to multiple apps to be able to follow their favorite teams.
In response to that issue, FCC Chair Brendan Carr has already warned the NFL and other major professional sports leagues that they are in danger of losing their antitrust exemptions. Without those exemptions, teams would be subject to normal antitrust rules and would have to negotiate deals themselves.
“Since the decline of cable RSNs starting in 2023, some larger broadcast TV station groups have acquired rights, especially local rights, to air some live sports, including some MLB, NHL, NBA, WNBA, and NWSL games, to the benefit of local viewers,” the filing notes. “But broadcasters, prevented by outdated ownership rules from achieving national reach and greater local scale, cannot effectively compete with unregulated platforms for very costly live sports programming.”
The NAB also stressed that “One of the most impactful actions the Commission can take to help broadcast TV stations better compete for premium live sports content is to modernize its rules supporting the transition to the ATSC 3.0 standard. As the Commission has recognized, the ATSC 3.0 standard is poised to deliver substantial benefits to viewers across the country. Relevant to live sports, the ATSC 3.0 standard delivers sharper picture quality, richer and more immersive audio, enhanced accessibility features and interactive applications that promote viewer engagement with live sports programming – all for free over-the-air.”
While a number of broadcasters have already launched 3.0 signals offering better quality broadcasts, the NAB warned that the FCC needs to require all new sets to be ATSC 3.0 capable and that the regulator needs to set a firm cut off the ATSC 1.0 broadcasts. “A sunset date is a critical focal point that will align all ecosystem parties to make concrete plans to adopt the standard; without it, the transition could sputter and stall.”
“Live sports and broadcast TV have long gone hand in hand, with each strengthening the other,” the filing concluded. “That relationship has not only benefited both parties, it has also served the public well by bringing communities together and helping support local news and other programming on broadcast TV. But that is starting to change. More premium live sports are moving behind paywalls, and that shift is eroding longstanding public benefits. Big Tech platforms and global pureplay streamers with tens of billions of dollars of revenue to spend are not focused on strengthening local communities, but on selling products and adding subscribers. That is why policymakers are right to take a close look at this changing marketplace, and why the Commission can and should take concrete steps now to begin addressing the problem.”
The full filing is available here.
