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S 2414 114th Congress Senate

FANS Act

Official title: A bill to decrease the frequency of sports blackouts, and for other purposes.

Introduced: December 17, 2015 Introduced by: Blumenthal, Richard Democratic · Connecticut See on congress.gov
Sports and Recreation Broadcasting, cable, digital technologiesCompetition and antitrustInternet and video servicesInternet, web applications, social media
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Professional sportsTelevision and film
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This bill died when the 114th Congress ended
It never became law before the 114th Congress (2015–2016) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 2 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Dec 17, 2015
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Dec 17, 2015
Introduced in Senate
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 Latest action December 17, 2015

Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Furthering Access and Networks for Sports Act or the FANS Act

This bill amends the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 to provide that the antitrust laws shall apply to joint agreements among professional football, baseball, basketball, or hockey league covering the telecasting of sports contests to the extent that any such league does not: (1) expressly prohibit sponsored telecast licensees and any video licensee from intentionally removing the live content of such league from a multichannel video programming distributor during, or related to a negotiation regarding, carriage of the league's games by such distributor; or (2) make a sponsored telecast of a game that is played in the home territory of a member club available to consumers over the Internet in any territory in which the game is not available for private viewing through a local television broadcast station or a such a distributor.

The bill repeals the exception that allows the antitrust exemption for such a joint agreement that prohibits televising games within the home territory of a member club on a day when such club is playing at home.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
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APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 2414: FANS Act. 114th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/114-S-2414/
MLA
"S. 2414: FANS Act." 114th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/114-S-2414/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 2414, 114th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/114-S-2414/.
Markdown link
[S. 2414: FANS Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/114-S-2414/)
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