The NFL reiterated at the FCC that the sports...
The NFL reiterated at the FCC that the sports blackout rule maximizes the in-stadium experience and engages its fans through media outlets. The number of blackouts has dropped dramatically, and attendance and viewership have increased over the past few decades,…
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said the league in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-3 (http://bit.ly/1kN9CcW). The NFL “sees the blackout rule as a contributing factor to that success,” it said, referring to the rule that prevents multichannel video programming distributors from carrying games blacked out by sports leagues on TV stations in markets where games haven’t sold out. Although gate receipts as a percentage of NFL revenue decreased since the rule was adopted, it counts for about 25 percent of revenue and “remains important to clubs and players alike,” it said. The NFL has “no privity of contract with local affiliates, so it has no ability to control whether an affiliate allows importation of its signal,” the NFL said. The league said it has agreements with MVPDs for carriage of NFL Network, but there is hardly any leverage. The filing recounts a meeting with FCC staff from the Media Bureau and the Office of Strategic Planning. The FCC launched a rulemaking to eliminate the rule last year (CD Dec 19 p8). The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) urged the FCC to maintain the rule. The NFL’s stadium policies and the FCC’s current broadcast rules work cooperatively “to serve the interests of states as well as the public by promoting economic activity, civic pride and the broadcast of professional football on free, over-the-air television,” NCSL said in a letter to Chairman Tom Wheeler (http://bit.ly/1kPbpya). The league policies not only result in sold-out games, “but also generate economic activity in and surrounding stadiums and beyond,” it said. Ending the rule puts the local broadcast model at risk and may cause sports leagues “to move sports programming from” over-the-air to pay-TV, it said.