An FCC proposal seeking comment on eliminating the sports blackout rules “raises thorny questions,” said a Fletcher Heald CommLaw blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/1dRLEqo). If sports blackout rules are eliminated, copyright licenses might allow multichannel video programming distributors to retransmit distant games even when the local broadcast of those games is blacked out, the blog said. “Avoiding that result could force renegotiation of a wide range of agreements involving TV networks, their affiliates, the sports leagues and MVPDs,” the blog said. Dropping the blackout rule could also cause sports leagues to leave broadcast networks for direct carriage on multichannel video program distributors, the blog said. Since compulsory copyright licenses don’t apply to MVPDs, “leagues interested in exercising maximum control of their game content might, absent governmentally-imposed blackout rules, be inclined to abandon [over the air] broadcast distribution in favor of other methods,” the blog said. These could take the form of dedicated sports networks distributed on MVPD channels or over the Internet, the blog said. That result could mean higher costs for fans, since games wouldn’t be on free broadcast networks. However, that’s more likely a long term issue, the blog said. “The NFL has recently re-upped its deals with CBS, NBC and Fox through the 2022 season, so we're all presumably safe for the time being,” said the CommLaw blog.

The FCC Media Bureau should reverse a market modification decision to give WHIO-TV Dayton must-carry status in 23 communities in the area of Ohio’s Auglaize County, said Block Communications in an application for review (http://bit.ly/19YTik3). “Unless reversed, the decision will produce a result inconsistent with the purpose of the must carry rules and undermine, rather than further, localism,” said the filing. WHIO licensee Miami Valley Broadcasting -- an affiliate of Cox Media -- filed a request Tuesday for a time extension to respond to Block’s application for review (http://bit.ly/1kYUjg5). Block owns Lima, Ohio, stations WLIO and WOHL, and had opposed WHIO’s must-carry petition. The bureau did not give enough weight to the Block stations’ historical carriage and “superior” signal coverage, said the application for review. The must-carry decision “directly conflicts with the statute, case precedent and established Commission policy,” said the Block application.