FCCs Brendan Carr again blasts deals between NFL and streaming services claims antitrust exemptionis at risk

FCC Chair Brendan Carr doubled down Tuesday on his argument that the NFL could lose its antitrust exemption if it moves too many games behind streaming service paywalls.The Department of Justice is investigating the league amid outcry that it has become too pricey and complicated for sports fans to watch their favorite teams – and Carr warned that oversight could extend to the FCC and Congress, too, if the shift to streaming worsens.“That experience has become frustrating for lots of Americans over the years,” he said of watching games to CNBC.“I do think there’s a point at which the NFL reaches a tipping point where they’re sticking too many games behind a paywall, in which case it really raises a lot of questions about the scope of that [exemption],” Carr added.“DOJ and Congress could also look at the antitrust exemption.We want to be informed about this because we ultimately do regulate the local broadcast TV market, so we’re going to look at it and potentially we could inform Congress or DOJ, as well.”Leagues are currently protected from antitrust action under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which has allowed teams to pool their media rights together into massive TV packages. But Carr told The Post late last month that the NFL could lose this protection if it shifts too many games to streaming, as fans shell out as much as $1,500 a year to watch every pro football game across several online services.Carr has argued that the shift to streaming harms not only consumers, but local broadcasters, too.“We’re looking at this at the FCC from the perspective of the health of the local broadcast market,” Carr said Tuesday.“We want to make sure that there continues to be the ability of local broadcasters to invest in local news and local reporting, which is expensive, so they’re paying too much ultimately for NFL rights, for other sports’ rights.

That’s a problem.”Football fans needed to cough up $14.99 for Amazon Prime this year ...