“A bill to improve the access of consumers to professional sports broadcasts, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section defines a "league" as a U.S. professional sports organization for baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, or other sports as determined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) via notice-and-comment rulemaking; a "league streamer" as a subscription service streaming most league games that uses the league name, is promoted by the league, shares proceeds with the league, or meets other FTC-determined criteria; and a "local fan" as an individual in the same state as a league team or other locality determined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It prohibits league streamers from imposing any blackouts on live games (including geographic blackouts) and authorizes the FTC to enforce this requirement as an unfair or deceptive act or practice under the Federal Trade Commission Act, with full FTC powers including rulemaking. It requires leagues to provide local fans free, ad-supported access to all live games of a team via a single method (local telecast or one streaming service) at the best available quality (except for minor league teams or leagues with fewer than eight teams) and authorizes enforcement by the FCC over complaints and by state attorneys general in parens patriae civil actions (including for damages, restitution, injunctions, and attorney fees).