Rupert Murdoch Convinced Trump To Launch Dubious Antitrust Inquiry Into NFL

from the and-by-antitrust-we-mean-transactional-crony-capitalism dept

One recurring theme during the Trump era is that because he fundamentally doesn’t know how anything actually works, his beliefs and policies are broadly shaped by whatever terrible rich person was in his ear last. Even when it comes to stuff like streaming video. It’s all transactional cronyism, and by and large the public interest is routinely a distant afterthought. The press then normalizes it as serious adult policy.

We saw that recently when Trump decided to protect the supposed “sanctity” of the Army Navy college football game with an illegal executive order. While this was framed by many press outlets as Trump “protecting a longstanding American tradition,” it was really because Paramount (CBS and Larry Ellison) was upset that they were losing viewership to college game streaming alternatives on ESPN.

The same phenomenon popped up recently with Trump’s sudden criticism of the NFL. The NFL has been airing games on a more diverse array of streaming partners (including Amazon, Netflix, and its own NFL+ service), meaning slightly fewer games are shown over traditional broadcast TV. Last month, the Trump DOJ launched an “antitrust investigation” into the NFL’s business practices.

The press framed the inquiry as a good faith antitrust inquiry by the Trump administration. But while having to subscribe to multiple services to watch a full array of NFL games certainly is annoying to people, the NFL counters that 87 percent of all games are televised by broadcast TV. And among America’s broad monopolistic dysfunction (telecom, energy, airlines, banking), the NFL is small potatoes.

A follow up report from the (ironically) Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal (see non-paywalled NBC synopsis) now indicates that the whole thing started because Rupert Murdoch whined to Trump about losing NFL game TV audience share at a dinner last February:

“Via the Wall Street Journal, Fox owner Rupert Murdoch told President Donald Trump during a February dinner that, if the NFL sells more games to streaming companies, “it would kill broadcast networks.”

Since then, the NFL has endured increased scrutiny from multiple prongs of the federal government. From Congress to the FCC to the Department of Justice, the league has found itself on the wrong end of unprecedented heat.”

If you recall, during the first Trump administration Rupert had a hand in convincing the Trump DOJ to sue to stop the Time Warner and AT&T merger, because Rupert was mad that Time Warner refused to sell him CNN. It’s about how these things impact Rupert personally, not necessarily the health of any markets.

Amusingly, the two other major Rupert-owned outlets, the New York Post and Fox News, have been selling Trump’s obvious cronyism as a good faith antitrust intervention on behalf of consumers:

Countless other non-Murdoch-owned outlets propped up the claim that Trump was simply doing what was right for consumers, cares about antitrust, and was focused on “affordability.” The New York Times, for example, frames Trump’s complaints as genuine good faith concerns about consumer costs. There’s no indication that the sudden inquiry into the NFL’s business practices could have any other origins.

Republicans (especially Trump Republicans) endlessly coddle monopoly power (again: see telecom, energy, airlines) and work tirelessly to dismantle consumer protection regulations and corporate oversight, but you’ll notice they’re routinely given credit for consumer-focused initiatives and “antitrust reforms” that either have ulterior motives or never come to fruition. From the Times:

“Other politicians are also trying to take action on a scattered and costly sports TV landscape. In March, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, submitted a letter requesting that the DOJ and Federal Trade Commission review antitrust exceptions given to the NFL. In April, Sen. Tammy Baldwin said she plans to introduce legislation aimed at decreasing TV costs and blackouts for sports fans.”

Republicans, MAGA, and “free market Libertarians” love fiercely competitive “free markets” until they very suddenly don’t. At which point their cronyism, favoritism, bailouts, or other weird interventions are dressed up as good faith antitrust reform by a corporate press looking for its own access and favors.

This same normalization of Trump’s cronyism plays out in every sector, across the entirety of U.S. media, constantly. It helps prop up the bogus Trump administration claims of populist antitrust enforcement, when what we’re really talking about is a corrupt and purely transactional man who doesn’t understand how anything works and is easily swayed to action — if he thinks it’s of personal benefit to himself and his biggest donors.

Filed Under: antitrust, army navy, donald trump, rupert murdoch, streaming

Companies: news corp., nfl