Sports Technology & Communications News from Around the World

As Adweek reported Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC (News - Alert)) is seeking comment from the National Football League (NFL) on its practice of blacking out games on local television stations in cities where teams have failed to fill their stadium’s seats. When local stations cannot air a game, it prohibits pay-TV providers from airing it too, causing fans and the FCC itself to question the validity of the Commission’s own blackout rule.

FCC Commissioner, Robert M. McDowell believes it may be time to revamp the rule in an age of evolving media:

“We now live in a world with not only local broadcast stations, but also cable, satellite, the Internet and wireless, and where television and merchandising revenues exceed ticket sales, it is appropriate for us to re-examine the rule in light of marketplace changes.”

This year the NFL forced local TV stations to blackout 16 combined games in Cincinnati; Tampa, Fla.; Buffalo, N.Y.; and San Diego, because those cities failed to fill their stadium’s seats. If the rule were lifted there is still no guarantee that a game would be broadcasted in a local market because not only would they need permission from pay-TV providers, the NFL has the final say of whether or not a station can air one of its programs.

As the issue continues to draw opinions from fans, it has even sparked debate in some state legislatures, where members have gone as far as to propose fining NFL teams $125,000 for its unfair black outs in local stadiums funded by taxpayers. Arguing it is only hurting members of the public that may not have the financial means to attend a game:

“How can you ask a guy who's barely making a living to go to a game he can't afford?” argues Senator Mike Bennett of Bradenton Florida. “That's insulting. At least you can let the guy watch the damn game on TV.”

Leading the push to end to blackouts is the Sports Fan Coalition, which petitioned the FCC to look into a rule change. The argument being that by eliminating the rule and allowing cable and satellite TV providers to carry the games, it will influence the local stations to organize against the NFL and ask for their broadcasting rights as well.

Interestingly, on the other side of the argument are local broadcasters that see the move to eliminate the FCC rule as an outright attack on local TV altogether. Pointing out the fact that the Coalition is backed by financial support from pay-TV providers such as Time Warner and Verizon (News - Alert). Furthermore, local broadcasters have already lost most of their sports programming to pay-TV and the NFL is one of few sports leagues that still broadcasts on over-the-air local stations, however minimal that may be.

Most recently, the dispute between local and pay-TV networks came to a forefront when viewers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire became innocent bystanders in a contract dispute between local affiliates from the Sunbeam Television Corporation and DirecTV (News - Alert). The dispute threatened a blackout of this weekend’s Super Bowl for viewers in who live in those area use the satellite provider. That is something quite troubling, considering viewers with DirecTV in Boston and surrounding areas would not be able to view their hometown team play in the NFL Championship game this weekend.

This would have again left the innocent public viewers taking the brunt of the punishment because of unclear FCC rules and disagreements between local and national broadcasters.  Fortunately, the influence of Senators like John Kerry from Massachusetts and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire has helped resolve the issue and DirecTV will be broadcasting Sunbeam’s channels to its viewers this weekend.

Whether you are on the side of pay-TV or local broadcasters, one thing is clear; the people who are hurt most by the FCC rule and the power struggle between local and pay-TV broadcasters are the fans. Many of whom work hard, pay their bills and still buy hundreds of dollars of NFL merchandise every year, although they cannot afford to attend a game because of outrageous ticket prices.

The FCC will be accepting petitions and responses on the matter until February 28, after they will deliberate and review the evidence for and against changing the rule and take in account the effects it may have on local broadcast markets. However, the deliberation may not be as quick as forecasted because the FCC will be accepting input from all major sports leagues with television contracts in the U.S., as a potential change to the rule could affect them as well.

To learn about the Sports Fan Coalition’s petition, visit its End Blackouts site.

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