Regulators are probing Major League Baseball’s streaming-rights distribution as part of a wider federal review of how professional sports leagues deliver games to online platforms, officials and reports say.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr told Bloomberg he has heard complaints from baseball fans about where to watch games and that regulators are examining leagues beyond the NFL. The investigation follows a Wall Street Journal report that the Department of Justice is probing whether the NFL’s practice of splitting broadcast privileges is anticompetitive.
Bloomberg, citing a source, said the DOJ also plans to review streaming rights for leagues covered by the Sports Broadcasting Act, including MLB; a DOJ spokesperson declined to comment. Carr cautioned that while the NFL has drawn attention, regulators are looking more broadly at other leagues that might test the limits of the law.