Netflix, Amazon and YouTube are putting a formal lobbying operation behind their streaming interests as Washington scrutiny intensifies over how Americans access live sports.
The three companies have founded the Streaming Access and Choice Alliance, a new Washington, D.C.-based group announced Monday. The alliance, known as SACA, is being led by TechNet, a trade group that represents major technology companies, and arrives as lawmakers from both parties have criticized the rising cost and growing complexity of watching favorite teams across streaming services.
SACA says its mission is to “promote high-quality and high-value entertainment experiences for consumers.” In a statement, the alliance said it will advocate for “technology-neutral policies that encourage innovation in entertainment,” including policies that allow streaming services to continue investing in programming such as live sports.
The group’s launch gives Netflix, Amazon and YouTube a dedicated presence in a policy debate that has increasingly centered on the migration of sports from broadcast television to streaming platforms. SACA is positioning streaming not as a barrier for sports fans, but as a way to broaden access and improve the viewing experience.
On its newly launched website, the alliance says streaming “plays a central role in bringing sports programming to wider, more diverse audiences across the country.” The group points to features including multi-game viewing options, analytics-focused feeds and creator-hosted companion shows as examples of what it describes as a high-quality and personalized experience.
According to SACA’s founders, the volume of sports content on major global subscription streaming services has grown 52% since January 2024.
A Washington response to sports-streaming pressure
The lobbying push comes as elected officials are taking a harder look at what sports fans must pay, and how many services they must navigate, to watch games. Earlier this year, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, introduced legislation aimed at stopping professional sports leagues from blacking out games for fans, ending what her office described as a complicated web of streaming services and reducing costs for viewers.
Under Baldwin’s bill, leagues would be required to provide local fans access to all of their teams’ games in one place, either on television or streaming, for free. According to Baldwin’s calculations, Wisconsin sports fans would currently need to spend more than $1,500 per year to watch all Packers, Brewers and Bucks games across multiple services.
Republicans have also put sports media rights under the microscope. In June, the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee held a hearing focused on the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, the law that gives professional sports leagues such as the NFL a limited exemption from federal antitrust laws so they can collectively sell media rights. The committee also released a report calling the law “a special-interest antitrust exemption gone awry.”
Against that backdrop, SACA is making the case that streamers and digital entertainment companies need a policy voice of their own in Washington.
“Americans want more content choices and flexibility in how and where they watch their favorite programming, including sports and other live events,” Mike Ward, senior VP of federal policy and government relations at TechNet, said in a statement. “Streaming and digital entertainment companies offer audiences better features and value for their money. The industry and its customers deserve a dedicated voice in Washington, D.C., advocating for policies that enable innovation and address the needs of today’s consumers.”
Not the same as the Streaming Innovation Alliance
SACA is separate from the Streaming Innovation Alliance, another industry group that launched in 2023. That organization advocates “for federal and state policies that build on the strong, competitive and pro-consumer market for streaming video.”
The founding members of the Streaming Innovation Alliance include Netflix, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal’s Peacock, the Motion Picture Association and TelevisaUnivision.
By contrast, the new Streaming Access and Choice Alliance begins with Netflix, Amazon and YouTube as founders, with TechNet leading the operation. Its arrival signals that the debate over sports on streaming is no longer confined to programming strategy or consumer complaints; it is now a direct Washington policy fight over access, cost, innovation and how live sports will be distributed in the streaming era.