Gunny
09-07-2014, 11:29 AM
(CNN) -- This weekend marks the kickoff of what millions of Americans have been looking forward to since the final minutes of Seattle's Super Bowl victory in early February -- another football season.
Players, primed and ready, will take to the field, inspired to make their mark on the new season. Loyal fans, football-starved from a long offseason, will tune in to cheer on their hometown teams. No one can avoid the nervous energy that defines the start of a new season.
But one thing fans should never have to worry about is whether or not this week's game will be impossible to watch due to a TV blackout.
It is unfortunate that we will kick off yet another football season with federal rules on the books that serve only to protect the leagues at the expense of sports fans.
One of these rules is the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) sports blackout rule, which prohibits a cable or satellite company from carrying a game that is blacked-out within the local broadcast area. While this affects leagues beyond the NFL, it occurs most often when, under the NFL's rules, a home game does not sell out at least 72 hours before kickoff.
Under the FCC's sports blackout rule, cable and satellite companies are unable to televise that game in the local broadcast market, leaving local fans in the dark.
While the blackout rule was originally cast as a way to encourage ticket sales, this rationale is no longer supported by the facts. The FCC is aware of this and voted (http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7520963473)unanimously last December to propose elimination of the rule, acknowledging that the record does not support the argument that blackouts increase ticket sales and that "the sports blackout rules have become obsolete."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/06/opinion/mccain-blumenthal-end-nfl-blackouts/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
One, who wants to pay $100. for nosebleed seats?
Two, I'm already paying more than that for cable.
Honestly, the only time this rule has affected me is when I lived in San Diego and DC, and who gives a crap? :laugh:
But, it's a stupid, antiquated rule and it isn't going to make people put up money they don't have.
Players, primed and ready, will take to the field, inspired to make their mark on the new season. Loyal fans, football-starved from a long offseason, will tune in to cheer on their hometown teams. No one can avoid the nervous energy that defines the start of a new season.
But one thing fans should never have to worry about is whether or not this week's game will be impossible to watch due to a TV blackout.
It is unfortunate that we will kick off yet another football season with federal rules on the books that serve only to protect the leagues at the expense of sports fans.
One of these rules is the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) sports blackout rule, which prohibits a cable or satellite company from carrying a game that is blacked-out within the local broadcast area. While this affects leagues beyond the NFL, it occurs most often when, under the NFL's rules, a home game does not sell out at least 72 hours before kickoff.
Under the FCC's sports blackout rule, cable and satellite companies are unable to televise that game in the local broadcast market, leaving local fans in the dark.
While the blackout rule was originally cast as a way to encourage ticket sales, this rationale is no longer supported by the facts. The FCC is aware of this and voted (http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7520963473)unanimously last December to propose elimination of the rule, acknowledging that the record does not support the argument that blackouts increase ticket sales and that "the sports blackout rules have become obsolete."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/06/opinion/mccain-blumenthal-end-nfl-blackouts/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
One, who wants to pay $100. for nosebleed seats?
Two, I'm already paying more than that for cable.
Honestly, the only time this rule has affected me is when I lived in San Diego and DC, and who gives a crap? :laugh:
But, it's a stupid, antiquated rule and it isn't going to make people put up money they don't have.