FCC Monday Morning Quarterbacks the Sports Blackout Rule

[Commentary] On September 30, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on whether to repeal its sports blackout rules. The outcome is a forgone conclusion - the FCC will repeal the rules. The sports blackout rules benefit the professional sports industry and local TV stations. Pay-TV operators which might benefit from lifting them have their own deals with the sports leagues and thus have little incentive to challenge the rules. There is one other group of interested parties - the public, but, until recently, sports fans did little but complain a few times a year when games were blacked out. That changed when a new group called the Sports Fan Coalition (SFC) was created to give voice to those concerns. In November 2011 SFC filed a petition calling for repeal of the rules.