I don't think this is the problem, at least in the UK market. For English Premier League there was initially just Sky bidding. Prices got pretty ridiculous for

I don't think this is the problem, at least in the UK market. For English Premier League there was initially just Sky bidding. Prices got pretty ridiculous for the matches as the football association could keep on putting price up and as so many people take Sky just for sports, they had no option to accept. It then has got even more loopy. BT under the ex-CEO got into the fray, with BT and Sky bidding against each other for matches. Fees skyrocketed even more. Now Amazon is bidding for live matches, so there is a 3 way bid driving prices even higher. Even buying Sky Sports by itself is still really expensive, about £35/$50/month via NowTV. Plus you'd need BT Sports (~£10/month) and now Amazon Prime (~£8/month) to watch all the matches. Sports are just going to keep on getting more and more expensive until the end customer stops paying, as the market will just work that way.