TV Sports Rights
Modern day TV is pretty much dependent upon live sports in order to sell their product.
None other TV programme actually comes close to the necessity of sports for being watched live.
Click here to see the article in New York Times relating to the issue
The TV channels bundle their offerings so that the non-sports fans get to pay quite a lot for their TV package in order to subsidize those who actually watch the expensive sports programmes.
Due to the monopolies in the sporting leagues it is hard for the market to regulate this phenomenon.