FCC Asks for Public Comment on Sports’ Migration From Broadcast TV to Streaming
The FCC is seeking the public’s comment on sports’ migration from free, over-the-air broadcasts to streaming services.
In a public notice on Wednesday, the agency states that live sports and broadcast TV have enjoyed a “long and mutually beneficial relationship” in which leagues leverage the partnership to grow their fan base and expand their revenue. In return, TV stations use the popularity of live sports and the advertising revenues from the programming to support their own industry and operations, including funding local news and reporting.
“For decades, Americans enjoyed turning on their TV & quickly finding the game they wanted to see. Yet watching your favorite team play isn’t as easy these day. Many games are still on broadcast, but an increasing number are on a range of different online platforms,” FCC chairman Brendan Carr said in an X post on Wednesday. “We want to understand the marketplace today, the experience of consumers, and how the changes impact the ability of broadcast TV stations to continue delivering local news, information, and other programming.”
The notice asks commenters to address the current and emerging trends in the distribution of live sports programming by explaining how the marketplace is benefitting or harming consumers, how fragmentation is impacting local broadcast stations’ ability to meet their public interest obligations and how future changes may impact consumer access to free over-the-air news and information, including public safety information.
More to come…
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