Cruz Eyes Revamp of Sports Broadcasting Act, Citing Fans' Dissatisfaction
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, questioned Tuesday whether the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act (SBA), which granted the NFL and other professional sports leagues antitrust immunity to negotiate nationwide broadcast rights, is still fulfilling its “intended goals,” given fans’ frustration with fragmented access to games. “The shift to streaming isn’t just frustrating -- it can be expensive,” Cruz said during a committee hearing. “Between league-specific packages and games behind different streaming paywalls, it can cost hundreds of dollars a year for a hardcore fan wanting to watch all of a league’s games.”
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Leagues need to “show how the SBA continues to benefit fans today,” but it also “may be worth exploring whether to give a similar exemption to college sports whose broadcasting rights have no antitrust protection,” Cruz said. “One growing concern is that the NFL has used its special exemption in the SBA to the frustration of college and high school football schedulers.” The NFL “has tiptoed up to this rule, now putting a game on streaming on Black Friday afternoon, which used to be a slot reserved for prominent college football rivalries.”
Kenny Gersh, the MLB's executive vice president-media and business development, said the regional sports networks model “has begun to crumble” amid rising use of streaming platforms, emphasizing that the league is trying to eliminate local game blackouts. William Koenig, the NBA's president-global content and media distribution, highlighted that its new national media contracts will increase the number of over-the-air games to about 75 during the 2025-26 season.
Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Communications Subcommittee ranking member Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., used the hearing to criticize President Donald Trump’s attacks on public broadcasting, including a recent executive order directing CPB to stop distributing its federal funding to NPR and PBS (see 2505020044). Trump’s “actions last week will hit [rural] communities the hardest and deny residents the access to information that they rely on to keep them safe in emergencies,” Cantwell said.