FCC Repeals Sports Blackout Rules

As expected, the FCC today voted 5-0 to repeal the sports blackout rules that require cable systems and satellite operators to black out local sporting events broadcast on distant television stations when the event is not being carried on a local television station, upon request of the rights holder. Although the Commission noted that the original purpose of the rules was to encourage professional sports leagues, particularly the NFL, to keep showing their games on broadcast television stations, the rule has come to be viewed as one that protects the private business interests of the NFL. Indeed, as FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler noted, the current NFL broadcast agreements run through 2022, so it is unlikely that NFL games will disappear from broadcast TV any time soon. Additionally, TV revenues have replaced ticket sales as the NFL’s primary source of revenues since the rules were enacted 40 years ago.

As it was, the sports blackout rules were subject to many conditions, including specific notification requirements, and exemptions for small systems, significantly viewed stations and stations from hyphenated markets, as well as stations carried prior to 1972. According to the FCC, only two NFL games were blacked out last season.

Of course, elimination of the sports blackout rules does not mean that sports blackouts will end. Rather, they can still be enforced by contracts between the NFL and their affiliated television stations as well as through retransmission consent agreements with cable and satellite TV operators. However, the FCC will no longer be enforcing those private contracts through any federal government mandate. 

The Commission’s News Release announcing the repeal can be viewed here and the text of the Report and Order is here. The effective date of the repeal will be 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, meaning the rules may still be in effect for the next six weeks or so, which would include much of the NFL’s current season.