Senator Patrick Leahy and a colleague threatening to reconsider the National Football League’s antitrust exemption if it doesn’t make games on the NFL Network available to more viewers.
Leahy and Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter are concerned fans in their home states will not be able to see games involving the New England Patriots or the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The two say the NFL is adopting strategies to limit distribution of game programming to their own networks.
Eight games air this season on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation’s homes with televisions.
Games are simulcast on free TV locally for each team, but that doesn’t include regional markets such as Vermont for the Patriots or parts of Pennsylvania for the Steelers.