April 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether the National Football League has engaged in anticompetitive tactics that harm consumers, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Major broadcast station owners, U.S. regulators and senators have raised concerns in the past over the difficulties consumers face in watching sports games and the growing trend of selling broadcast rights to streamers.
The nature and full scope of the investigation could not be immediately ascertained.
However, the NFL said in a statement on Thursday that more than 87% of its games are aired on free broadcast TV and that all games are aired on free broadcast television in markets of participating teams.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.
In February, the Federal Communications Commission opened a review into the growing shift of live sports away from broadcast networks to pay TV and subscription services, seeking comment on actions the agency "could take to ensure continued access by viewers to live sports through free over-the-air broadcast TV."
In response, major broadcast station owners last month urged the regulator to address the trend of Big Tech companies acquiring the rights to broadcast football, baseball and other sporting events, saying it could weaken local TV news.
The FCC has said many sporting events previously available through free broadcast or traditional cable TV packages are now available only through standalone subscription streaming, which has frustrated many sports fans.
Last year, NFL games aired on 10 different services, the FCC said, citing estimates that it could cost a consumer more than $1,500 to watch all games.
In March, U.S. Senator Mike Lee submitted a letterto the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission requesting a review of antitrust exemptions for the NFL's dealings with streaming platforms.
A 1961 law exempts major sports leagues from antitrust laws and allows them to pool their individual teams’ television rights and sell those rights as a package.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York and Kanjyik Ghosh in Barcelona; Additional reporting by Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrea Ricci and Toby Chopra)
