FOX Sports Shuts Down Major Service Amid Growing Fury Over NFL’s Broadcast Antitrust Exemption

If you use the Fox Sports app to watch NFL games or NASCAR races on your TV, you’ll soon need to clear some space on your home screen. Fox is officially pulling the plug on its standalone sports app for smart TVs and streaming devices at the end of May 2026.

The company started notifying fans on April 7, giving them about a month to prepare for the switch. Moving forward, big-screen viewers will be shifted over to the FOX One app, an all-in-one destination that Fox launched last summer. 

In May, Fox will shutdown its Fox Sports App on TVs and connected devices and customers will need to use the Fox One service.

This shouldn’t change anything for streaming. Fox One can be used with a cable login.

— Manny Soloway (@sportsontvguy) April 8, 2026

While change is not always great, this move isn’t just to focus on a rebrand. The new app actually does a few more things than the old one couldn’t. For example, letting you record games or watch multiple matchups at once on a split screen.

The transition is fairly straightforward, but it does require some effort. The users will need to download the FOX One app and sign back in, using either a direct subscription or their usual cable login. 

This move is part of a bigger plan to keep up with rivals like ESPN. But for now, the platform will be providing its service altogether, as they do not have a separate sports streaming platform.

Fox is aware that their streaming apps will not be smooth altogether, and they’re scrambling to make things better so everything actually works the way it’s supposed to. But while they’re busy with the tech change, there’s a much bigger mess brewing amid the FOX app shuffle.

NFL risks antitrust immunity amid shift to paid streaming

Watching football used to be simple: you turned on your local TV station, and the game was there for free. But lately, sports fans are getting frustrated. Because the NFL is sending its games across so many different streaming apps like Amazon, Peacock, and Netflix, it has become extremely expensive to keep up with. 

Now, big TV networks like Fox and Sinclair are speaking up too. They are telling the government that these interloper streaming services are a huge threat. They worry that if all the best sports move to paid apps, local TV stations will eventually disappear, much like local newspapers did years ago, addressing a growing concern. 

FOX owner Rupert Murdoch also aimed at the NFL’s broadcast antitrust exemption, questioning the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell.

“Today, the NFL is the powerful giant, while the broadcasters are weak. Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to take advantage of this dominance by renegotiating with the networks. In 2021, the NFL finished a package of broadcast deals, including with CBS, Fox, and NBC, that were meant to run through 2033. The rights fee roughly doubled.”

Irrespective of the contract, the league is now looking at ways to make more money.  Which is by asking the traditional networks to increase their money or risk losing their games to other streaming platforms. This has put traditional broadcasters on a tight platform.

The reason the NFL has been so successful for so long is a special legal “hall pass” called an antitrust exemption. Back in 1961, the government made a deal with the league: the 32 teams could bundle their TV rights together and sell them as one giant package, typically not allowed for big businesses.

In exchange, the NFL promised to keep games on local channels free so everyone could watch. It was a fair trade, the league got to act like a monopoly, and the public got free access to football.

December 25, 2025 Kansas City, MO. U.S. – Fireworks above the scoreboard before the start of a week 17 National Football League football game between Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City MO..Denver won 20-13.Attendance: 73405. /Cal Media Kansas City United States of America – ZUMAc04_ 20251225_zma_c04_177 Copyright: xMichaelxSpomerx

However, the world has changed, and the NFL is now an entertainment giant. During the last Super Bowl, a record-breaking 137.8 million people tuned in at once. 

Senator Mike Lee also pointed out that the NFL might be breaking its original promise. He noted that the 1961 law was meant for “sponsored telecasts,” which means free TV with commercials. But today, the league is selling games to subscription services and tech companies instead.

Senator Lee pointed out that,  “The NFL now licenses games simultaneously to subscription streaming platforms, premium cable networks, and technology companies.” He warned that if games are hidden behind expensive paywalls, “these arrangements may no longer align with the statutory concept of sponsored telecasting or the consumer-access rationale underlying the antitrust exemption.”

This shift is putting a lot of pressure on the league. The big TV networks are currently trying to renew their contracts with the NFL, and the prices are getting out of control. For example, CBS is facing a 45% increase in cost, paying about $3 billion a year just for Sunday games.

By complaining to the government, some networks might be trying to get a better deal. The stakes are incredibly high for the future of the sport.

If the government decides the NFL has broken its end of the bargain and takes away its special legal status, the move would only allow bigger and more successful teams to survive.

While the NFL is chasing the huge profits offered by streaming companies, it is risking the very legal shield that has kept it at the top for over sixty years.

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