NAB: Elimination of Sports Blackout Rule Would Be Detrimental in Long Term

In its comments on the Sports Fans Coalition petition to the Federal Communications Commission to scrap the sports blackout rule, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) said that while it sympathized with sports fans in the "very few" markets affected by blackouts, "elimination of the rules will, in the long-term, be detrimental to all sports fans."

NAB echoed its initial comments that getting rid of the FCC rule, which prevents cable operators from carrying coverage of games blacked out on broadcast TV. It said it would undermine program exclusivity, which is essential to its business model, and would speed the migration of sports to pay TV.