Facing scrutiny from multiple federal agencies — and with one of its longest-tenured broadcast partners encouraging the effort — the NFL has reportedly begun mounting its defense.
NFL officials, including EVP/media distribution Hans Schroeder, met with their counterparts at the FCC last week to push back against claims that the league’s media rights deals with streaming companies adversely impact broadcast television and should not be covered by its 1961 antitrust exemption, Joe Flint of The Wall Street Journal reported early Wednesday.
In the meeting, which according to Flint was requested by the NFL, Schroeder is said to have led a presentation highlighting the league’s broadcast television commitment and the potential unintended consequences if its antitrust exemption were revoked or limited.
As previously noted, 75 percent of NFL game windows aired primarily on broadcast across last year’s regular season and playoffs, compared to 15% that aired primarily on streaming. All games that do not air on broadcast television are required under NFL policy to be carried on local over-the-air affiliates in the home markets, meaning that every NFL game airs at least in part on broadcast TV.
If the desire is to preserve or increase the number of NFL windows on broadcast television, it is hard to see how eliminating or reducing the scope of the antitrust exemption would achieve that goal. The exemption merely determines who is allowed to negotiate the sale of NFL rights, not who those parties are allowed to negotiate with.
If the NFL was no longer able to negotiate the collective sale of its teams’ media rights, teams would presumably be free to negotiate individually with whichever platforms they chose, with nothing stopping them from striking the same streaming-exclusive deals that are currently at issue.
If the desire is to reduce the number of platforms viewers have to sift through and pay for, gutting the antitrust exemption has the potential to backfire entirely — creating a free-for-all of 32 separate rights deals that could run the gamut of television distribution from broadcast to cable to streaming. The league argued as much to the FCC, per Flint.
The league is said to have described the meeting in a filing to the FCC Tuesday. That document was not publicly available as of early Wednesday morning.
