I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3452 
To decrease the frequency of sports blackouts, to require the application 
of the antitrust laws to Major League Baseball, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 12, 2013 
Mr. HIGGINS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To decrease the frequency of sports blackouts, to require 
the application of the antitrust laws to Major League 
Baseball, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Furthering Access and 
Networks for Sports Act’’ or the ‘‘FANS Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 
In this Act, the term ‘‘Sports Broadcasting Act of 
1961’’ means the Act of September 30, 1961 (15 U.S.C. 
1291 et seq.). 
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SEC. 3. AMENDMENTS TO THE SPORTS BROADCASTING ACT 
OF 1961. 
(a) ELIMINATION OF ANTITRUST EXEMPTION FOR 
SPORTS BLACKOUTS DURING RETRANSMISSION CONSENT 
NEGOTIATIONS.—Section 1 of the Sports Broadcasting 
Act of 1961 (15 U.S.C. 1291) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: ‘‘The antitrust exemption estab-
lished under this section shall not apply to any league of 
clubs participating in professional football, baseball, bas-
ketball, or hockey contests that does not expressly prohibit 
sponsored telecast licensees of such league, and any agree-
ment with any video licensee, from intentionally removing 
the live content of such league from a multichannel video 
programming distributor (as defined in section 602 of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 522)), when such 
removal occurs during or is related to a negotiation re-
garding carriage of the games of such league by the multi-
channel video programming distributor.’’. 
(b) ELIMINATION OF ANTITRUST EXEMPTION FOR 
LOCAL SPORTS BLACKOUTS.—Section 2 of the Sports 
Broadcasting Act of 1961 (15 U.S.C. 1292) is amended 
by striking ‘‘, except within the home territory of a mem-
ber club of the league on a day when such club is playing 
a game at home’’. 
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(c) AVAILABILITY OF GAMES OVER THE INTERNET 
WHERE NOT OTHERWISE AVAILABLE ON TELEVISION.— 
The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 is amended— 
(1) by redesignating sections 4 through 6 as 
sections 5 through 7, respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after section 3 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 4. (a) The antitrust exemption established 
under section 1 of this Act shall not apply to any league 
of clubs participating in professional football, baseball, 
basketball, or hockey contests that does not make a spon-
sored telecast of a covered game available to consumers, 
for a fee or otherwise, using an Internet platform, in any 
territory in which the game is not available for private 
viewing through a local television broadcast station or any 
available multichannel video programming distributor. 
‘‘(b) For purposes of this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘covered game’ means a game 
that— 
‘‘(A) is played in the home territory of a 
member club of a league described in subsection 
(a); and 
‘‘(B) is not available for private viewing 
through a local television broadcast station or 
any available multichannel video programming 
distributor; 
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‘‘(2) the term ‘multichannel video programming 
distributor’ has the meaning given the term in sec-
tion 602 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 522); 
‘‘(3) the term ‘television broadcast station’ has 
the meaning given the term in section 325(b)(7) of 
the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 
325(b)(7)); and 
‘‘(4) the term ‘Internet platform’ means a deliv-
ery mechanism that uses packet-switched protocol or 
any successor technology.’’. 
SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF THE ANTITRUST LAWS TO PRO-
FESSIONAL MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. 
Section 27 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 26b) is 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘subsections (b) through 
(d)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (b) and (c)’’; 
and 
(B) by striking ‘‘directly relating to or af-
fecting employment of major league baseball 
players to play baseball at the major league 
level’’; 
(2) in subsection (b)— 
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