Democrats in the House and Senate are sounding the alarm over ESPN’s recent bid to team up with the NFL and Major League Baseball to consolidate distribution rights.
The Disney-owned sports channel offered the NFL a 10% stake as part of a $3 billion acquisition of the NFL Network in August. But the group of Democrats, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, said it raises red flags for potential anti-competitive collusion.
That, in turn, could lead to price hikes passed on to customers.
“[S]ports fans should not be forced to pay more or jump through more hoops to watch their favorite team,” the Democrats wrote in a letter to the two league commissioners and heads of Disney and ESPN.
“We are concerned that these new deals could hurt consumers by disadvantaging competitors, limiting choices, raising prices for viewers, and creating potential conflicts of interest,” they wrote.
In addition to Ms. Warren, the letter was signed by Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent, and Democratic Reps. Joaquin Castro of Texas and Patrick Ryan of New York.
After it announced the NFL deal, ESPN said it was considering equity-sharing agreements with other sports leagues, notably MLB.
“We at ESPN, we’re the front door, we’re the starting point for sports fans, we’re the access point and we believe we can help solve that,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro told Axios. “So, we’ve made very good progress over the past couple of months and I’m very hopeful that we can get something done.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed that the baseball league is close to reaching a deal that would give ESPN exclusive rights to “sell out-of-market regular-season games digitally and in-market games for five clubs over the next three years,” The New York Times reported.
But the Democrat lawmakers warned that it would give too much control to one private network.
“ESPN’s deals with the NFL and the MLB would give the sports media giant new degrees of control … for two of the most profitable sports leagues in the country,” they wrote. “We have serious concerns that fans and competitors will suffer as a result.”
The letter came as Democrats have sought to ramp up pressure on Disney over its brief suspension of ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel for his comments blaming President Trump’s “MAGA” movement in the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Mr. Kimmel returned from his brief suspension Tuesday night, offering a cursory apology for the comments while maintaining he never intended to scapegoat “MAGA” supporters for the Sept. 10 assassination at Utah Valley University.
Democrats accused Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr of forcing the Kimmel suspension, which they said was a violation of the comedian’s First Amendment rights.
Two major distributors, Sinclair Media and Nexstar, responded to the decision to reinstate Mr. Kimmel by announcing their intention to replace his late-night TV show with local news broadcasts.
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