NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has reportedly been asked to testify on the SBA and its impact on the sports broadcast rights marketplace at a U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing next week; several Scripps stations unavailable on DirecTV amid carriage dispute; and Russell Wilson is reportedly accepting a deal to join CBS Sports. Plus news on the NBA Finals on ESPN/ABC, Jason Benetti, Marv Albert and YouTube.
Goodell reportedly asked to testify on SBA at U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has been asked to testify on the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 and its impact on the sports broadcast rights marketplace at a U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing next week, as first reported by Dan Murphy of ESPN. In a letter to Goodell, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said the hearing will in part “examine the extent to which the antitrust exemption created by the SBA has been used by the professional sports leagues to harm consumers,” echoing arguments by Fox Corporation and other opponents of sports rights shifting to streaming services, “and whether potential legislative remedies may be needed to address that harm.”
The request comes amid the backdrop of a reported U.S. Department of Justice investigation into whether the NFL’s rights deals with streaming companies are anticompetitive. NFL EVP/communications, public affairs and policy Jeff Miller said last month that the league remains committed to broadcast television. The league’s 2026 schedule includes a slight increase in broadcast TV games thanks to NBC and Fox acquiring two of the four game windows freed up by ESPN’s acquisition of NFL Network, along with Fox and CBS having two of their regional windows elevated to national status.
Longtime NFL rightsholder Fox Corporation and the National Association of Broadcasters have both advocated for revisiting the Sports Broadcasting Act, but Miller questioned what that would do for broadcasters. Miller: “So, if the NAB or Fox or others are questioning the merits of [the league’s commitment to broadcast television], I’m not sure I really understand where that comes from.”
Goodell defended the league’s distribution strategy in an interview with Lachlan Cartwright of Vanity Fair and said that an argument can be made that Netflix has larger distribution “than some of the networks.” During an interview before the NFL Draft, Goodell reiterated that the league has “been surviving and thriving on the basis of being available to the broadest audience.”
Several Scripps stations unavailable on DirecTV amid carriage dispute
A number of stations owned by the E.W. Scripps Company were no longer available through DirecTV platforms as of Sunday night amid a carriage dispute. The 54 television outlets across 36 Nielsen DMAs include 17 ABC affiliates slated to air games throughout the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Final, although the games remain accessible through other means, such as a traditional broadcast antenna or ESPN Unlimited subscription. The blackout occurs just weeks after Scripps and Comcast reached a new carriage deal that ended a five-week blackout.
Scripps said in a statement that DirecTV chose to remove the stations, accusing the company of utilizing “heavy-handed tactics” to use subscribers “as bargaining chips in contractual disputes.” DirecTV wrote in a statement that it declined to pay Scripps record-high retransmission consent rates and tried to reach “a more reasonable agreement,” but that Scripps ended up pulling the channels. Scripps-owned Ion, which broadcasts Friday night WNBA games nationally, is not affected by this impasse, per a report by Matthew Keys of TheDesk.net. Talks are said to be ongoing between the two sides.
Scripps has steadily expanded its local sports portfolio in recent months and asked Comcast to carry stations televising local NHL games, apparently as a condition for carrying other stations across the country. In this instance, local sports carriage is less of a factor than the retransmission consent rate, Sports Media Watch has learned. That being said, carriage of local Nashville Predators and Detroit Pistons broadcasts, which are moving to Scripps-owned networks next season, is part of the negotiations between Scripps and DirecTV.
Scripps president/CEO Adam Symson said on an earnings call that the company is “very intentional” about acquiring local and national sports rights. DirecTV carries most regional sports networks around the country and has reached deals with Scripps to carry its local sports broadcasts for other teams, including the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.
Wilson reportedly accepts deal to join CBS Sports
Longtime NFL QB Russell Wilson has accepted a deal to join CBS Sports as an analyst on “The NFL Today,” according to a report by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Wilson would be joining a cast with host James Brown and analysts Nate Burleson and Bill Cowher. Former QB Matt Ryan departed the program in January upon being named the president of football for the Atlanta Falcons. Wilson, who played for the New York Giants last season, appeared on the programs as a guest analyst during the team’s Week 14 bye.
Wilson told Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post last month that he had received a contract offer from the New York Jets. The 14-year NFL veteran and Super Bowl champion was said to be choosing between continuing to play football and starting a career working in television. Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports reported earlier Monday that “Wilson is expected to accept the job” on the studio show.
Wilson’s arrival would mark the fourth change to “The NFL Today” panel in the last four seasons after several years of consistency. Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason moved on from the show after the 2023-24 season, both ending multi-decade runs with CBS. J.J. Watt became a full-time member of the show for two seasons before moving into the broadcast booth with Ian Eagle and Evan Washburn. Ryan worked with Watt for one season as part of a five-person panel before it was reduced back to four last year.
Wilson has not formally announced his retirement from the NFL, and there is precedent for former players leaving television roles mid-season to join teams. Most recently, Rob Gronkowski served as a Fox NFL studio analyst before returning to the gridiron to play alongside QB Tom Brady on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the next two seasons. Former NFL TE Jason Witten joined ESPN as an analyst on “Monday Night Football” in 2018, but he ended up re-signing with the Dallas Cowboys less than a year later.
Plus: NBA Finals on ESPN/ABC, Pat McAfee, Marv Albert, YouTube
- Pat McAfee will front an alternate presentation on ESPN for Game 3 of the NBA Finals on-site from Madison Square Garden. McAfee will work alongside colleagues from “The Pat McAfee Show,” including Connor Campbell, Anthony DiGuilio (“Tone Digs“) and Ty Schmit, along with ESPN NBA analysts Kendrick Perkins and Quentin Richardson. McAfee and ESPN are in discussions about a “long-term contract extension,” per a report by Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports. ESPN will have several of its studio shows on site throughout the series, including “NBA Today” and editions of “SportsCenter” featuring hosts Kevin Neghandi, Christine Williamson and Scott Van Pelt. The NBA Finals on ABC will use 52 cameras while introducing “1080P HDR capture and transmission” and “4K replay zoom capabilities.”
- NBC Sports “Sunday Night Baseball” play-by-play announcer Jason Benetti said in a recent interview on the “Sports Media Watch Podcast” that he will also be part of the company’s basketball and football coverage. Benetti said that he has yet to have a conversation around the specifics but that joining NBC “would have been very difficult for me to do if it was just baseball.” Benetti has previous experience calling those sports during stints at ESPN and Fox Sports, and he recently filled in for Brian Anderson on first-round coverage of March Madness across CBS and TNT.
- Former NBC Sports broadcaster Marv Albert confirmed that he was asked to call an NBA game for the network earlier this year, but he was unable to do so and noted that he has “had some voice issues,” he said in an interview with Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated. Albert, who retired from broadcasting in 2022 after more than five decades behind the microphone, said calling a game “would have been nice to do.” Albert voiced an open for a game earlier in the season, but he was not part of the network’s Spurs-76ers “throwback” broadcast in March with former broadcast partners Doug Collins and Mike Fratello among others.
- YouTube users can now use the platform’s Primetime Channels platform to purchase subscriptions for Fox One and will soon have the same functionality for Peacock, it was announced on Monday in a blog post written by YouTube VP/global head of media and sports Justin Connolly. Consumers will be able to watch content from both platforms directly on YouTube Primetime Channels, along with other streaming outlets such as HBO Max, Paramount+ and the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market package.
