NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has informed a congressional committee that he will not be accepting the invitation to testify over the league’s new streaming deals and how those deals impact broadcast television.
Goodell sent a letter to the House Judiciary Committee telling ranking member, Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, that he does not feel compelled to speak to the committee during its scheduled June 10 meeting.
The committee is set to hear testimony about the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 and will explore whether the NFL’s move toward streaming services to broadcast its games is coming at the expense of broadcast TV and other traditional services, according to Awful Announcing.
NFL general counsel Ted Ullyot has reportedly sent an official NFL letter to the committee explaining that, as technology changes, so, too, must the NFL.
“As technologies have presented new ways to distribute video content, viewing habits have changed, and we have adjusted our approach, but to be clear, this has not come at the expense of our dedication to broadcast television,” Ullyot reportedly wrote in his letter to the committee. He added that streaming services “offer significantly more reach than the current pay-TV ecosystem. … Broadcast television remains the foundation of our media distribution.”
The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 granted a limited antitrust exemption for pro sports, allowing leagues to sell broadcast rights as a league rather than on a per-team basis. But obviously, this exemption was granted when there were only two options: radio and TV. It was before cable, satellite TV, and the Internet.
Broadcast TV networks say that the NFL (and other sports leagues) have been taking advantage of rules written long before the current technology and that they are being left in the lurch as the NFL gears up for streaming services.
The NFL, though, claims that going to streaming is bringing even more fans and that broadcasters haven’t lost a thing.
Still, technology is moving quickly, and multiple investigations have been launched in D.C. into how the NFL is responding to and taking advantage of those changes.
Just this year, the Department of Justice has launched a probe into the NFL’s broadcasting deals, as has the FCC. And Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin is also preparing legislation to force the NFL to broadcast games in Wisconsin for free. Further, Democrats Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Pay Ryan, along with Republican Sen. Mike Lee, are also threatening action.
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