FTC Drops Ad Boycott Data Demands Made to Media Matters, Others The US Federal Trade Commission has withdrawn document demands it made to three groups that track online misinformation, after the agency settled what it said were related antitrust claims against maj...

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Deputy Assistant Attorney General G. Charles Beller Delivers Remarks at NAB Show Las Vegas Good afternoon — and thank you for inviting me to the town that Moe Greene invented as a stopover for GIs on their way to the West Coast: Las Vegas.[1]

Now you can just read the speech yourself instead of my many thoughts about it: www.justice.gov/opa/speech/d...

Also, this is absolutely true: "There is only one good celebrity in this world: the author Stephen King. According to Mr. King, the best free bread in America is “crusty and warm” and served at Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse in Sarasota, Florida."

I confused my coworkers by frequently bursting out laughing.

This story is amazing and you should read it.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Translation: we don’t care that it’s high-priced per se. But we are going to look into this to make sure it’s fair and that the streaming doesn’t always win just because they have buckets of money. Also we haven’t made up our minds yet because we only started looking at this a month ago.

"The goal is not to regulate prices, but to ensure that they are the product of a competitive process. Antitrust enforcement is not personal. It is not about picking winners and losers. And it is not about taking sides in industry disputes”

“That competition can drive prices higher, but the key antitrust question is whether the process by which those prices are set remains competitive. Are multiple parties able to bid? Are there constraints that limit participation or distort outcomes?

Back to our speech: “In many areas—particularly live programming—content remains scarce. Rights to certain events are limited and highly valued, and competition among distributors to secure those rights is intense.

((In case you’re confused, “live programming” = sports))

Ninth Circuit skeptical of NFL's win in Sunday Ticket trial The panel seemed puzzled by the rulings of the trial judge who tossed a $4.7 billion damages award soon after the jury had returned its verdict.

Recently, an appeals court seemed willing to reinstate that verdict — hence the renewed interest by DOJ/FCC.

courthousenews.com/ninth-circui...

Order in the Field: A Brief Overview of the NFL Sunday Ticket Antitrust Litigation - The complaint alleged that NFL Sunday Ticket was an example of anti-competitive conduct, since it “pooled” each teams’ games

DirecTV settled, but the NFL took this to trial — and lost to the tune of $4.7 billion dollars. After the jury verdict, though, the judge threw it out.

law.vanderbilt.edu/order-in-the...

Some people challenged this, suing DirecTV and the NFL over their Sunday Ticket subscription. Because DirecTV is subscription and not broadcast TV paid for by ads, it didn’t qualify for the antitrust immunity.

DOJ Opens Probe Into NFL’s Sports Television Deals The US Justice Department has opened an antitrust probe into the National Football League, looking at whether its broadcast deals with media companies drive up the costs for consumers, according to pe...

A couple years back, the leagues started to negotiate deals with pay-TV or streaming services instead of just broadcast TV. Those folks had more money and so could offer more for the TV rights.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

The hook: this ONLY applied to broadcast TV, which consumers could watch over the air for free (paid for by advertisements).

In the 60s, Congress gave the leagues the ability to collectively negotiate deals about televised games. Instead of having each team individually arrange a TV deal, the league could reach a deal with a national broadcaster.

Baseball Streaming Rights Also Draw Federal Antitrust Scrutiny US regulators are increasingly scrutinizing the distribution of streaming rights for Major League Baseball games as part of a broader federal inquiry about how professional sports leagues provide thei...

3) Sports rights. DOJ and the FCC are looking at how the sports leagues monetize their content.

The states and DirecTV argue that Nexstar and Tegna have a lock on two things — local news and sports. National reach and national content don’t matter if someone is just wanting to know what the city council decided last week and how the Bills are doing.

Which brings us to sports

And at the national level, Nexstar and Tegna’s broadcasts compete with everybody else “upstream” for content — Google’s YouTube; Netflix; Amazon Prime — and downstream for distribution — DirecTV; cable operators like Comcast; and streaming services like Peacock+ and Disney’s Hulu and ESPN.

That’s a lot of words that don’t say much. but the last sentence is the key. Nexstar and Tegna argue that local markets don’t matter: instead of looking at who owns what stations in any individual geography — like Sacramento or Buffalo, NY — the antitrust analysis should look at a national level.

“Broadcast remains an important part of the media ecosystem, and transactions or conduct affecting broadcast markets can have meaningful competitive implications. At the same time, the broader context in which broadcast operates must inform how those implications are assessed.

“From an antitrust perspective, that means approaching these markets with nuance. Broadcast is neither insulated from competition nor irrelevant to it.

“Broadcast companies are competing in a world with more distribution options than ever before, but they are also interacting with counterparties that may have significant scale or integration across the value chain.

More:
“Broadcast continues to play a vital role in local markets, in live programming, and in reaching broad audiences. It operates at the intersection of content and distribution, participating in both upstream and downstream markets. That position creates both opportunity and complexity.

Translation: we didn’t do anything because the state and DirecTV had it handled!

“It is also important to recognize that enforcement is not limited to government actors. Private parties —competitors, distributors, and other market participants — often have standing to bring claims under federal and state antitrust laws.

So back to our speech: “The reality is that competition in media is overseen by a network of institutions, each with its own tools, unique expertise, and distinct mandates. State AGs play an important role in antitrust enforcement, often bringing a localized understanding of market dynamics.

A group of Democratic state attorneys general and (separately) DirecTV sue over the deal. They ask the judge to pause integration on the merger while their lawsuit is ongoing. Even though Nexstar and Tegna have closed, the judge agrees.

Again, DOJ could have said SOMETHING about why it decided a deal allowing one company to control 80% of US broadcast stations was fine. But they didn’t.

Nexstar closes the deal within hours of those federal approvals.

But in February, Trump officially came out in favor of the deal. So the FCC okays it despite that cap. And the Justice Department agrees not to do anything and just lets the deal go with the FCC conditions -- divesting 6 stations and agreeing to some pledges on increasing viewpoints