[opendtv] FCC chairman: Sack the NFL's blackout rule

From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 12:48:21 -0400

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/09/09/wheeler-fcc-nfl-blackout-rule-obsolete-column/15300147/

FCC chairman: Sack the NFL's blackout rule

Professional football doesn't need government protection to bolster the bottom
line. Blackouts hurt loyal fans.

With the first weekend of professional football in the books, two things should
be abundantly clear: The NFL is king; and the Federal Communications
Commission's sports blackout rules are obsolete and have to go.

In 1975 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enacted rules barring cable
from airing a game that has been blacked out on the local television station
because it was not sold out – strengthening the NFL's blackout policy . Today
the rules make no sense at all.

The sports blackout rules are a bad hangover from the days when barely 40
percent of games sold out and gate receipts were the league's principal source
of revenue. Last weekend, every single game was sold out. More significantly,
pro football is now the most popular content on television. NFL games dominated
last week's ratings, as usual, and the Super Bowl has effectively become a
national holiday. With the NFL's incredible popularity, it's not surprising
that last year the League made $10 billion in revenue and only two games were
blacked-out.

But the NFL's blackout policy remains a real concern for fans. During last
year's playoffs, Cincinnati, Green Bay and Indianapolis hadn't sold out their
games 72 hours before kickoff. The only way those games weren't denied to fans
was that local businesses bought blocks of tickets just so the game could be
officially "sold out."

The most egregious case was in Green Bay, where the weather forecast called for
a low of minus-15 degrees. Despite decades of unbelievable fan support and
loyalty – Green Bay had sold out every regular season game since 1959 – local
Packer fans were effectively told that if more people didn't buy tickets to go
freeze, the rest of the community wouldn't be able to watch the game on TV.

Today, we are blowing the whistle on this anti-fan practice. The NFL should no
longer be able to hide behind government rules that punish loyal fans, which is
why I am sending to my fellow commissioners a proposal to get rid of the FCC's
blackout rules once and for all. It fulfills a commitment I made in June. We
will vote on the proposal on September 30.

The league is loudly opposing this effort. They claim that the system is
"working" and the FCC shouldn't disrupt America's most popular sports league.
Unfortunately, it's working a lot better for the league and its owners than it
is for the fans, who on average pay nearly $500 to take a family of four to a
game.

Believe it or not, the league is actually arguing that it's fighting to
preserve the FCC's sports blackout rules for the sake of the fans. It says that
removing the commission's rules could mean the endof pro football on free
over-the-air television and is threatening to move its games to pay services
like cable and satellite. It claims this would particularly hurt low-income
Americans who disproportionately rely on broadcast television.

To hear the NFL describe it, you would think that putting a game on CBS, NBC or
Fox was a money-losing proposition instead of a highly profitable multi-billion
dollar business. If the league truly has the best interest of millions of
American fans at heart, they could simply commit to staying on network
television in perpetuity.

The bottom line is the NFL no longer needs the government's help to remain
viable. And we at the FCC shouldn't be complicit in preventing sports fans from
watching their favorite teams on TV. It's time to sack the sports blackout
rules for good.

Tom Wheeler is chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from
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[opendtv] FCC chairman: Sack the NFL's blackout rule

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