Policyband

Sen. Baldwin's Bill Would Guarantee Free Access Throughout Wisconsin to Watch NFL Packers

Wisconsin Democrat’s For the Fans bill would also ban league-owned streaming services from blacking out certain games on their platforms

Ted Hearn

Apr 16, 2026 — 9 min read

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TV Sports: Bipartisan support for addressing concerns about TV sports costs and inconvenient fan access is building on Capitol Hill. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis) introduced a bill Wednesday designed to address a few fan pain points in today’s TV sports programming market. She moved after Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice to probe NFL streaming deals in tandem with the league’s antitrust exemption in striking media deals. DOJ, according to the Wall Street Journal, has launched an investigation. One of two key provisions in Baldwin’s For the Fans Act would ensure that everyone in Wisconsin, by way of example, would have free TV access to Green Bay Packers games, home and away. “The Packers’ [wild card] playoff game in January against the Bears [in Chicago] was solely available on Amazon Prime for five of Wisconsin’s seven media markets,” Baldwin said in a press release that voiced concern about the rising cost of TV sports. (More after paywall)