Netflix, Amazon and YouTube launch Washington lobby for streaming sport

Netflix, Amazon and YouTube have teamed up in Washington to lobby for streaming's place in live sport.

The three companies have founded a new lobbying group, meaning an organisation set up to argue a cause to lawmakers. It is called the Streaming Access and Choice Alliance (SACA) and is based in Washington, D.C., as reported by Variety.

The alliance will be run by TechNet, a trade organisation that represents large technology companies. SACA says it will push for technology-neutral policies, or rules that do not favour old broadcast TV over streaming. The aim, it says, is to encourage innovation in entertainment and let streaming services keep investing in programming including live sport.

Sport is the prize. The founders say sports content on major global subscription streaming services, meaning Netflix-style paid platforms, has grown by 52% since January 2024.

For fans, this means the fight over where you watch the game now has a formal new player in Washington. The launch follows pressure in Congress over how sport is sold and what viewers pay. Senator Tammy Baldwin has introduced a bill designed in part to untangle the web of streaming services and cut costs for viewers. In June, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. That law gives professional leagues such as the NFL a limited exemption from antitrust laws, the rules that normally stop businesses from acting together to control a market, so they can sell TV rights as a package.

Cost is part of the argument. More Americans are cutting back on streaming services because of rising prices, according to a Deloitte study cited by The Hill. Subscribing to eight major services without ads or bundle discounts costs $139.41 a month, or $1,672.92 a year in 2026, according to Fortune.

SACA is separate from an earlier body, the Streaming Innovation Alliance, which launched in 2023.