FCC’s Brendan Carr admits sports-TV inquiry may not result in any changes

Outspoken Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr has been accused of being an attack dog that’s all bark but no bite. His latest admission isn’t going to change that perception.

Carr admitted on Wednesday that the FCC’s inquiry into the rising costs of watching sports on television may not lead to any regulatory action.

“We’re just trying to make sure that we’re educated on these issues,” Carr said, per Bloomberg. “It’s not clear whether there will be a regulatory outcome or not.”

In March, the FCC began soliciting public comments on the ongoing fragmentation of sports broadcasting between traditional television platforms, such as over-the-air broadcast networks and cable channels, and paid streaming services, such as Prime Video and Netflix. Chiefly, they were looking for commentary on the rising costs of streaming services and cable bundles, which make it harder to find games or watch one’s favorite team without paying more.

“For decades, Americans have enjoyed turning on their television sets and quickly finding the games they wanted to watch for free on an over-the-air broadcast,” read the FCC notice. “Yet watching your favorite sports team play is not as easy these days. Many games are still available for free over broadcast TV, but there has been a surge in recent years of games going behind the paywalls of various streaming services. While this can increase the number of games and sports available to fans, many consumers today find it more difficult to find the events they want to watch and are now paying to sign up for one or more video distribution platforms that consumers can find difficult to navigate.”

The FCC’s public inquiry was followed by the Department of Justice opening a probe into the sports television marketplace.

Conveniently, both inquiries came about right as the NFL reopened media rights negotiations with networks such as Fox and CBS, both of which are owned by prominent supporters of President Donald Trump.

Carr says that the commission received many comments, including from Fox and Sinclair, backing the desire for major sports to remain on network television.

“We’re going to see what the record shows,” Carr said. “There’s limits as to where you can go.”

That’s a bit of a retreat from Carr’s stronger stance in March, when he suggested Congress could revisit the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act, which allows leagues to bargain collectively with media companies on behalf of teams. He had also suggested there might be a red line the NFL could cross with streaming-only broadcasts, one that could trigger action.

By all accounts, the FCC and DOJ inquiries haven’t spooked the NFL as much as they might have hoped or intended, and the court of public opinion may be the only potential avenue to make their point. That said, it does sound like the league may not get what it wanted from its renegotiations, which would be a win for networks that want to keep as much of the NFL pie as possible without paying too much more.