![handle is hein.journals/jlas29 and id is 1 raw text is:
Journal ofLegalAspects ofSport, 2019,29, 1 - 29
doi: https://doi.org/10.18060/22893
C Mark Conrad
A New Game in Town: Disseminating
Sports Content in a Net Neutrality-Less
Era-The Potential Implications for the
Post-Broadcasting World
Mark Conrad*
The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) repeal of the net neutrality
rules has implications for the consumers of program content found on broadband
Internet service providers (ISPs). Under the former rule, such providers engage
in discrimination by favoring some content over others orby using their broadband
to speed up favored content or slow down less favored content (practices known as
throttling). With the demise of net neutrality, ISPs have the power to control what
viewers see and how they see it, with few resources to fight such decisions. One key
category is sports. The end of net neutrality can have an adverse impact to sports
streams, because of the high amounts of broadband space utilized and the rapid
consolidation between sports content providers and ISPs. This article discusses the
background of the powers of the FCC, the history of the net neutrality rules, the
FCC's 2018 order repealing the rules, and the legal and political reactions to it.
It concludes by raising a number of hypothetical situations where the lack of net
neutrality can have an adverse impact for consumers of sports material.
After his stunning victory in the 2016 election, President Donald Trump
pledged to steer the nation in a different course of conduct from that of his
predecessor' While his approach to governance and leadership have been
considered unconventional, when it came to regulatory agency appointments,
he has followed a more traditional Republican playbook of deregulation of
At his Inauguration, President Trump made his views clear: January 20th, 2017, will be remem-
bered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. ... [the] American carnage stops
right here and stops right now. ... From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From
this moment on, it's going to be America first. ... America will start winning again, winning like
never before. See InauguralAddress, President Donald J. Trump (Jan. 20, 2017) https://www.
whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/the-inaugural-address/
*Mark Conrad, JD, is an associate professor of law and ethics and director of the Sports Business
Concentration in the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University; email: conradrfordham.
edu
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