A House Judiciary subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 on Wednesday, and the subcommittee has released a 27-page preliminary report that deals “solely with the NFL.” The report devotes “extensive attention to the Sunday Ticket class action, which nearly two years ago resulted in a verdict that, if converted to a final judgment, would have exceeded $14 billion.” That ruling was later overturned by a judge and is being appealed by the plaintiffs. Based on that case, the report asks whether the NFL “misrepresented to Congress the motivation of fans to purchase the Sunday Ticket package, which is deliberately overpriced to encourage fans to watch ‘free’ games in their local markets on CBS and Fox” (NBCSPORTS.com, 6/8).
Last month at the league meetings, NFL EVP/Media Distribution Hans Schroeder said, “The NFL’s media distribution polices continue to be the most fan-friendly in all of sports with 100% of all games available for free in, at the very least, the competing teams’ home market and 87% of all games primarily distributed on broadcast television” (SBJ).