WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday unanimously voted to end its nearly 40-year-old sports blackout rule, saying the provision, which now applies largely to NFL games, is outdated in an era when professional football has become a multibillion-dollar enterprise no longer mainly dependent on ticket sales.
The NFL, which strongly opposed the change, still can enforce its own policy that prevents games from being broadcast locally if they are not sold out.
But the FCC said it would repeal its rule that gave regulatory cover to the NFL by prohibiting cable and satellite TV providers from airing blacked-out games in the home team’s market.
“It is the leagues that control where sports fans can watch the games they want to watch,” said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler.
“If there are blackouts next weekend or Monday night or Thursday night, let alone on Sunday, it will be the decision of the league and its team owners … without the participation of the federal government,” he said.
The FCC’s decision will not affect blackouts that occur because of disputes between professional sports teams and broadcasters or TV providers, such as the one that has left most Los Angeles households from being able to watch Dodgers baseball broadcasts.
In that dispute, Time Warner Cable, which owns the local TV rights to Dodgers games, has failed to reach deals with other cable and satellite providers to carry the new SportsNet LA channel that airs the games.
Wheeler and the four other FCC commissioners agreed that the agency’s sports-blackout rule was outdated and harmed consumers.
The FCC adopted the rule in 1975 when ticket sales were the primary source of revenue for NFL teams and the league was concerned that fans would not buy tickets if games were broadcast locally for free on TV.
In 1975, nearly 60 percent of NFL games were blacked out, the FCC said. Last year, just two of 256 games were blacked out. In recent years, blackouts have been limited to a handful of markets, including San Diego, Buffalo and Cincinnati.
In addition, the main source of revenue for the NFL now comes from television rights, lessening the need to protect ticket revenue, the FCC said.
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel noted that when the agency first adopted the rule, the Los Angeles Rams, Baltimore Colts and St. Louis Cardinals had won their respective NFL division titles. Those teams have long since moved to other markets.
“Revenues today for professional sports teams are a multibillion-dollar mix of television rights, stadium naming rights, merchandise, licensing, corporate sponsorships and luxury suites,” she said. “For the life of me, I do not understand why this commission still has rules in the middle of this mix. They are a vestige from a bygone era. It is time for us to retire them.”
The NFL, backed by the National Association of Broadcasters, warned that eliminating the rule could force the league to move its games solely to cable or satellite.
“There are 60 million people and growing, including a lot of minorities, that are watching NFL football on free television and we want to keep it that way,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said last month.
“We are concerned that a change in this area … could have an impact on the overall business model for free television,” he said.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said after the vote that the league was committed to trying to avoid blackouts.
“NFL teams have made significant efforts in recent years to minimize blackouts,” he said. “The NFL is the only sports league that televises every one of its games on free, over-the-air television. The FCC’s decision will not change that commitment for the foreseeable future.”
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