FCC Opens Inquiry into Sports Broadcasting Practices and Marketplace Developments

The Federal Communications Commission’s (“FCC” or “Commission”) Media Bureau has launched a new Public Notice (the “Notice”) seeking public comment on sports broadcasting practices and recent marketplace developments, as the distribution of live sports programming continues to evolve across broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms.

For decades, live sports have been closely intertwined with broadcast television, offering viewers free over‑the‑air access while supporting broadcasters’ advertising revenues and their ability to fund local news and other public interest programming. The Media Bureau observes that this landscape has changed in recent years, with an increasing number of professional and collegiate sporting events moving to subscription‑based and direct‑to‑consumer streaming services.

Against that backdrop, the Media Bureau is seeking to develop a record on how evolving sports media rights and distribution models affect viewers, broadcasters, and the broader public interest – and what role, if any, the FCC should play in response. Among other topics, the Notice seeks comment on:

• How recent marketplace developments have affected broadcasters’ ability to obtain sports media rights and viewers’ ability to watch nationally televised and local sports on broadcast television;
• The types of rights commonly included in sports media agreements, such as exclusive, simulcast, and replay rights, and how those rights are allocated across platforms;
• The impact of increased reliance on subscription and streaming services on consumer costs and access to live national and local sports programming; and
• Whether current sports media rights arrangements may conflict with or impede broadcasters’ ability to meet their statutory public interest obligations and whether these arrangements impact consumer access to public safety and other emergency information.

The Media Bureau also invites broader comment on how upcoming sports rights negotiations should factor into the Commission’s analysis, as well as any additional matters that would help the Commission understand the current sports media marketplace, including its legal authority, and potential policy considerations.  

The Commission’s authority over local broadcasters is well established, and through that authority the FCC has historically exercised some oversight affecting broadcast television operations and, in certain respects, broadcast television networks.  However, the Commission’s ability to generally regulate online streaming platforms is untested. In 2014, the FCC began consideration of a proposal to subject “virtual” multichannel distributors, such as YouTubeTV, to the same regulatory treatment applied to cable and other traditional pay TV companies, but to date it has not taken action on that proposal.  The FCC’s direct authority over sports leagues themselves is also not readily apparent.  As a result, one area likely to receive significant attention in the record is the extent to which the FCC has authority, or lack thereof, in addressing aspects of the sports media marketplace that fall outside its traditional jurisdiction.

The Media Bureau will accept comments through March 27, 2026, with reply comments due April 13, 2026.