00:00Have you had a hard or rather expensive time recently trying to catch Monday Night Football?
00:04The Department of Justice is on the case. The DOJ has launched an investigation into the National
00:09Football League's potentially anti-competitive practices. The inquiry comes amid mounting
00:14concerns that it's become much more difficult and really pricey for sports fans to watch their
00:20favorite teams. And this isn't an issue that's just about football. The NBA, NHL, and Major League
00:25Baseball have all inked deals with a mix of broadcast and cable networks as well as streamers
00:30like Netflix and Amazon. The games air on multiple different platforms, potentially forcing fans to
00:35pay for any number of different services just to watch their teams play. The NFL and other leagues
00:41have been protected by a 1961 law, the Sports Broadcasting Act, which has allowed teams to
00:46pull their media rights together into massive TV packages. And that's shaken out to be a big fat
00:51moneymaker. Congressional leaders in 1961 hadn't even heard of cable at that point.
00:56The internet and video streaming? Forget about it. So you can see the problem. FCC Chair Brendan Carr
01:02told the Post late last month that the NFL could lose its exemptions if it sticks too many live games
01:07behind paywalls, as fans are shelling out as much as $1,500 a year to watch every pro football game
01:13across who knows how many streaming services. Thing is, the NFL is saying that they're trying to keep up.
01:19The league has argued that streamers have begun to replace broadcasters as a way that the fans are
01:24watching their content and that they just need to meet the viewers where they are. Now, remember one
01:29big thing. The DOJ investigating the NFL does not mean they will necessarily be charged with anything,
01:34but if they are, it could upend a multi-billion dollar industry.
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