Sports Fan Coalition: Ending FCC Black Out Rule Probably Won't End Blackouts

Armed with quotes from disabled and elderly fans, the Sports Fan Coalition told the Federal Communications Commission once again its sports blackout rule must go.

The coalition, which was filing reply comments to its own petition to scrap the rule, said that even if the government blackout were lifted, the National Football League and other sports circuits could maintain the blackouts contractually, although the coalition is hoping market forces would force them away from that policy. The FCC's sports blackout rule prevents a cable or satellite company from carrying a local market NFL game whose local broadcast has been blacked out per the NFL policy for broadcasts of games not sold out 72 hours in advance. The coalition was responding to NFL arguments that if the government policy were lifted, cable operators would be able to use their compulsory license to import a distant signal version of the game to cable subs in the market, thus circumventing the NFL blackout policy, Broadcasters have argued that the blackout and other exclusivity rules are crucial to preserving geographic exclusivity and the local ad revenues that ensue, and both National Association of Broadcasters and NFL have argued that eliminating the rule would speed the migration of sports from free TV. The coalition says the NFL and NAB are trying to have it both ways.