A federal agency left the NFL to push for its preferred blackout restrictions without the government’s backing in a ruling issued Tuesday.
The Federal Communications Commission voted 5-0 to repeal its sports blackout rules, which prevented cable and satellite operators from airing sporting events already blacked out on local TV. The termination of the rules lifts a security blanket that particularly had helped the NFL bolster its own blackout policy.
“We at the FCC shouldn’t be complicit in preventing sports fans from watching their favorite teams on TV,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement.
Tuesday’s unanimous order, however, doesn’t end the NFL’s private blackout restrictions. Under the league’s rules, a home team must be blacked out in its home market if it fails to sell a certain percentage of tickets at least 72 hours prior to kickoff. As FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly said, the NFL can still try convincing broadcasters and cable and satellite providers to adhere to its policy, “or risk losing access to the highest rated programming on television.”
“Simply put, the NFL does not need the FCC’s rules to do what it can do for itself.”
The league panicked after the agency began work on reviewing the rules, warning — or in the FCC’s view, raising false alarms — that ending the government policy would ultimately limit fans’ access to viewing games for free. As The New York Times writes, an argument about broadcast availability goes like this:
Cable system operators could reap rewards for importing a blacked-out game’s broadcast and selling local advertising spots.
But that retransmission would require the permission of the remote station broadcasting the game, which might be reluctant to anger the N.F.L. or might have other contractual restrictions to prevent it from agreeing. People who do not pay for cable would still be unable to watch.
That loss of control could lead broadcasters to pay less for television rights, making contracts with pay-television channels more lucrative for teams and making it harder for many Americans, particularly low-income fans, to view their team.
The FCC refuted such worries. It noted that the league’s current contracts with broadcast networks extend through 2022, allaying fears of a sudden switch to pay-for TV. And Wheeler stated that it’s profitable for the NFL to air most of its games on the networks because of massive ratings, which in turn allow the broadcasters to charge top dollar for advertising.
“NFL has told us they might have to start blacking out more games and the FCC will, somehow, be to blame. Let’s be clear, it is the league that makes the blackout decision,” Wheeler said. “Today, we withdraw from a bad policy that protected this anti-fan conspiracy.”
