FOX has been one of the biggest players in broadcasting the NFL in the U.S.A. since outbidding CBS for NFC television rights in 1992. But now, as streaming giants Netflix, Prime Video, and YouTube enter the conversation, the owner is positioning himself and FOX as the “little guy” in this bidding war.

“What Rupert Murdoch is doing here is he is signifying something very fascinating, which is that he is the little guy! Fox is the little guy among all these bidders now,” investigative journalist Pablo Torre said during an episode of his Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast.

Murdoch is assuming the role of the “little guy” because the streaming platforms can inflate the market with their deep pockets. FOX’s market capitalization of under $25 billion pales compared to Amazon’s and Google’s valuations of approximately $2.93 trillion and $4.83 trillion, respectively.

Murdoch’s stance is for financial reasons, especially after FOX sold its digital assets to Disney, which acquired the bulk of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets and a controlling stake in Hulu on March 20, 2019. Now, seven years later, this decision has pushed Murdoch and Co. onto the back foot, according to former ESPN president John Skipper.

“Roger is in the process of increasing the prices, potentially, to where nobody can afford to buy NFL packages except Amazon, Netflix, YouTube, etc. CBS has already got the most problems, but they’ve already been to them, and they’re in a position where they can’t give up the NFL. So they’re going to pay and set the market at some 35-50% increase over the recently negotiated deals,” Skipper said on the podcast.

Apart from the bidding war, the FOX owner reportedly played a significant role in the Department of Justice’s antitrust investigation into the NFL’s broadcast deals in April 2026.

Murdoch’s intervention with Donald Trump triggered a DOJ probe into NFL media rights: Report

The NFL took a drastic step in 2025  by reopening talks for media rights to secure extensions with its current broadcast partners well ahead of the contractual opt-out windows, previously set for 2029 and 2030. And amidst growing interest from streaming platforms, a sudden antitrust investigation into the league began in April 2026.

The DOJ will investigate whether the NFL’s decision was a way to kill competition while verifying whether these ‘exclusive’ deals are just a legal way to fleece the public. While the league strengthens its defense against this investigation, the Wall Street Journal has claimed that Rupert Murdoch reportedly masterminded this probe over dinner with President Donald Trump back in February.

“Murdoch and his top lieutenants warned Trump that if streamers gained rights to more games, it would kill broadcast networks (like Fox),” the report revealed.

Shortly after the meeting, the Federal Communications Commission started investigating the migration of sports to streaming services. Senator Mike Lee requested a federal investigation into the league’s business operations because of an increase in its expenditure on streaming NFL and other sports.

As the NFL’s media rights landscape shifts dramatically, Murdoch’s unlikely role as the “little guy” underscores just how much streaming giants have upended traditional broadcasting. With a DOJ investigation now in play and billions of dollars on the line, the fight for NFL rights is far from over, and FOX’s place at the table is no longer guaranteed.