NFL launches lobbying blitz at FCC to defend its media model as streaming scrutiny intensifies
The NFL launched a lobbying blitz on the Federal Communications Commission in recent days, sending top executives and its general counsel to meet with top advisors of chairman Brendan Carr, to discuss the NFL’s media distribution approach for its live games and how it benefits fans and local broadcasters.
The meeting took place Friday even as federal regulators, including the FCC and Justice Department, scrutinize the migration of sports to streaming, with the NFL being the biggest target in the government’s sights.
Carr has voiced concerns fans are being forced to juggle costly streaming subscriptions to follow football.
The NFL requested the meeting with the FCC in Washington after the FCC started a probe into how sports-media business is shifting toward streaming platforms. The Commission is investigating whether that move is harming consumers and the broadcast-television industry.
The meeting was described in an FCC filing Tuesday by the NFL and obtained by FOX News.
“Since its founding, the NFL has strived to put its fans at the center of everything we do,” the primary source document from the league states. “Nowhere is that more evident than in the NFL’s media distribution strategy, which for more than 50 years has served as a foundation and catalyst for the League’s growth and popularity.
“While nothing can replace the excitement of attending a game, the vast majority of fans rely on this media distribution model to watch live games and follow the sport they love.”
The filing contains a presentation NFL officials carried with them to the meeting the league titled “NFL Media Overview.”
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It includes charts that show how pay-TV households are declining while digital engagement continues to rise.
The presentation also explained the NFL’s media distribution approach and how it is “good for fans”
The league also makes the point in its presentation how its media distribution approach is good for broadcasters and, of course, good for the game.
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All this is significant because it is the NFL going on offense.
The NFL is proactively offering a case for retaining its antitrust exemption directly to the FCC chairman’s office to head off the federal government’s increasing scrutiny of the shift to streaming.
The NFL is essentially trying to frame its current media model as a necessity for keeping the game accessible before the FCC can move to regulate how these billion-dollar rights deals are structured.
Carr was not present for the entire meeting with the NFL, per a source. But he did greet the league’s contingent before turning the meeting over to the group of his top advisors.
Fox Business Network correspondent Darren Botelho contributed to this story.
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