Furthering Access and Networks for Sports Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1748 To decrease the frequency of sports blackouts, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 5, 2019 Mr. BLUMENTHAL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To decrease the frequency of sports blackouts, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Furthering Access and 4 Networks for Sports Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 6 In this Act, the term ‘‘Sports Broadcasting Act of 7 1961’’ means the Act of September 30, 1961 (15 U.S.C. 8 1291 et seq.). 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1748 IS SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE SPORTS BROADCASTING ACT 1 OF 1961. 2 (a) ELIMINATION OF ANTITRUST EXEMPTION FOR 3 SPORTS BLACKOUTS DURING RETRANSMISSION CONSENT 4 NEGOTIATIONS.—Section 1 of the Sports Broadcasting 5 Act of 1961 (15 U.S.C. 1291) is amended by adding at 6 the end the following: ‘‘The antitrust exemption estab- 7 lished under this section shall not apply, and the antitrust 8 laws shall apply, to any league of clubs participating in 9 professional football, baseball, basketball, or hockey con- 10 tests to the extent that the league does not expressly pro- 11 hibit sponsored telecast licensees of such league, and any 12 agreement with any video licensee, from intentionally re- 13 moving the live content of such league from a multichannel 14 video programming distributor (as defined in section 602 15 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522)), 16 when such removal occurs during or is related to a nego- 17 tiation regarding carriage of the games of such league by 18 the multichannel video programming distributor.’’. 19 (b) ELIMINATION OF ANTITRUST EXEMPTION FOR 20 LOCAL SPORTS BLACKOUTS.—Section 2 of the Sports 21 Broadcasting Act of 1961 (15 U.S.C. 1292) is amended 22 by striking ‘‘, except within the home territory of a mem- 23 ber club of the league on a day when such club is playing 24 a game at home’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1748 IS (c) AVAILABILITY OF GAMES OVER THE INTERNET 1 WHERE NOT OTHERWISE AVAILABLE ON TELEVISION.— 2 The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 is amended— 3 (1) by redesignating sections 4 through 6 as 4 sections 5 through 7, respectively; and 5 (2) by inserting after section 3 the following: 6 ‘‘SEC. 4. 7 ‘‘(a) The antitrust exemption established under sec- 8 tion 1 of this Act shall not apply, and the antitrust laws 9 shall apply, to any league of clubs participating in profes- 10 sional football, baseball, basketball, or hockey contests to 11 the extent that the league does not make a sponsored tele- 12 cast of a covered game available to consumers, for a fee 13 or otherwise, using an internet platform, in any territory 14 in which the game is not available for private viewing 15 through a local television broadcast station or any avail- 16 able multichannel video programming distributor. 17 ‘‘(b) For purposes of this section— 18 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered game’ means a game 19 that— 20 ‘‘(A) is played in the home territory of a 21 member club of a league described in subsection 22 (a); and 23 ‘‘(B) is not available for private viewing 24 through a local television broadcast station or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1748 IS any available multichannel video programming 1 distributor; 2 ‘‘(2) the term ‘internet platform’ means a deliv- 3 ery mechanism that uses packet-switched protocol or 4 any successor technology; 5 ‘‘(3) the term ‘multichannel video programming 6 distributor’ has the meaning given the term in sec- 7 tion 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 8 U.S.C. 522); and 9 ‘‘(4) the term ‘television broadcast station’ has 10 the meaning given the term in section 325(b)(7) of 11 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 12 325(b)(7)).’’. 13 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY. 14 The amendments made by this Act shall— 15 (1) take effect on the date of enactment of this 16 Act; and 17 (2) apply to any contract or agreement entered 18 into or modified by a league subject to the require- 19 ments of the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 on or 20 after the date of enactment of this Act. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:31 Jun 12, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1748.IS S1748 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS