Lawsuit Asks FCC To Lift Sports TV Blackouts

This suit primarily refers to NFL games, but it could eventually be applied to all sports. Let's hope so.

5 months ago Al Yellon 16 comments 0 recs |

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Its about time....with all the programming packages and streaming...this is way out of date.

Lets hope it happens

by TJ11 on Jan 13, 2012 8:25 AM CST reply actions

maybe i'm an idiot...

but Living in nashville, i dont get blacked out of anything. maybe i’m not understanding the whole “blackout” rule as it is. every sunday the Titans play they are on the television. the Braves and the Reds both have nashville as local markets, and if i were so inclined i could watch every one of their games. what am i missing here?

So i you can give you can take it.

by epsilon on Jan 13, 2012 10:01 AM CST reply actions

There are regions of the country

… that get blacked out even though they have no MLB teams. Example: much of Iowa, Las Vegas — those markets can get blacked out of up to six teams each even though they are hundreds of miles from MLB cities and have no access to regional sports networks.

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by Al Yellon on Jan 13, 2012 10:38 AM CST up reply actions

I'm in Iowa and

I am in the home market for the Twins, Royals, White Sox, Cardinals, Cubs and Brewers. I can get all of them on TV with Dish Network. But, if I wanted to watch any of these teams on the internet through MLB at Bat, I’m blacked out. That just doesn’t make much sense. Put the games on and sell advertising. It’s anti-American.

We'll miss you Big Boy. #10 is going into the Hall of Fame!!

by mrcubsfan on Jan 13, 2012 11:09 AM CST up reply actions

in addition

living in Chicago, if I wanted to watch the games on MLB.com — because, for instance, I don’t have cable — I can’t.

Forget all that other stuff. I gotta believe.

by drewishdrewid on Jan 13, 2012 11:25 AM CST up reply actions

For a while, I was living in Wichita, KS

and was blacked out of watching Cleveland Indians’ games. Huh?!?

"Whenever one finds himself in the majority, it is time to step back and reflect," Mark Twain.

by WindisBlowingOut! on Jan 14, 2012 10:01 AM CST up reply actions

goofy as it sounds

for NFL Austin is a Titans territory, and in the past (not too much this season) we were blocked out of watching the Houston Texans locally for the Titans game. This season it was different, but having no Vince Young and Houston winning games I am sure helped with that.

This season I was blacked out of a Bears game here due to the game not being sold out. I was paying for the NFL Package and could not watch if from Texas?

The various sports are all messed up with this, and it needs to just go away to be honest.

Q: Why did Theo Epstein cross the road?
A: To Dump Garza

by Cubbie-Tim on Jan 14, 2012 11:24 AM CST up reply actions

I don't suffer from black-outs.

Well, that’s not entirely true, but I digress.

What burns me the most is the Saturday Fox domination of what the TV audience gets to watch; sometimes regardless of source. Having said that, the second paragraph leads me to believe that the only push here is to get the FCC out of the way. This could have the opposite result from what I think most of us want. We could see a stronger Fox or worse.

The closing argument is the one I support. Make your money from the multitude of media streams. Have it accessible to anyone who desires to pay for it. Don’t black out anything.

Damn. I missed both Castro threads.

by Tat14 on Jan 13, 2012 11:01 AM CST reply actions

I really, really hope...

…this is the first step toward the end of blackouts.

"[The Cubs] have a very famous tradition in baseball, and it will be nice to be part of turning it around." ~ Jamie Quirk, Bench Coach

by daver on Jan 13, 2012 11:14 AM CST reply actions

I woud bet money I don't have

this is squelched ASAP. The mighty NFL won’t give an inch and will fight with everything it has. The other leagues won’t have to do anything, they will let the NFL take care of this.

by San Diego Smooth Jazz Man on Jan 13, 2012 11:25 AM CST reply actions

This is pretty rare, but the blackout scenario that irks me the most is:

It is two fold. I’m in Brewers territory. Most of their games are on FSN-Wisconsin. When they play the Cubs I just watch their broadcast. However, the Brewers have a local TV deal with WMLW in Milwaukee that gives them a handful of games during the season. WMLW does not broadcast in HD. I have no choice in Cubs-Brewers games carried by this network but to watch their crappy broadcast, because the Cubs feed of it is blacked out.

Here is the dumbest one, though. For some reason the Brewers do not have a TV broadcast for certain home day games, usually on Thursdays. In the rare instance that this is a Cubs game, I literally have zero ability to watch the game. Even though the Cubs are broadcasting it and the Brewers don’t even have a broadcast, the blackout rules STILL prevent me from watching the Cubs feed. So stupid! For Brewers fans living in Wisconsin and owning an MLB.tv or Extra Innings package, this must be exceedingly annoying since every time this happens they can’t watch their team. The rules actually PUNISH the home town fans in this scenario, since you could watch the games if you lived out of state…

by WiscCubsFan on Jan 13, 2012 11:55 AM CST reply actions

What the heck is a station broadcasting baseball now

doing not broadcasting in HD? They had a few years to make the switch and they had years before the switch to know it was coming.

And certain games not being shown? That reminds me of the Expos. Some years late in the decline, they had no games broadcast over the air/on cable, and no English language games on radio. Of course, that’s what Loria, wanted to destroy the fanbase. I remember in the Chicago area seeing some Cubs/Sox games on CLTV because WGN & CSN had prior commitments and the baseball game was the lesser priority. I think all those games switched over to WCIU now. I don’t get why some channels couldn’t use a subchannel for special events like sports.

by ddoubleheader on Jan 13, 2012 3:45 PM CST up reply actions

I don't get it either

It seems ridiculous to have games broadcast on a channel with no HD. The best part is that even WMLW’s SD picture quality is terrible.

I think the Pirates still have some games they don’t broadcast at all also. Maybe a handful of teams that do this. Why? Maybe they’re trying to encourage attendance for those midweek home day games.

by WiscCubsFan on Jan 13, 2012 5:20 PM CST up reply actions

There's a difference

between broadcasting in HD and broadcasting digitally. I’m sure the station broadcasts digitally (because it’s the law unless it’s an LP station) but that doesn’t mean they have the capacity to broadcast in HD.

by Josh Timmers on Jan 14, 2012 2:04 AM CST up reply actions

Unfortunately, this won't have any affect on MLB

The FCC has very little control over what goes on over cable or the internet. They can regulate over-the-air broadcasts because they use the public airwaves, but cable and the internet are generally unregulated.

Also, the title of this is wrong. This is not a lawsuit. It’s a petition to the FCC. A lawsuit would go before a judge. This is going before a government panel.

by Josh Timmers on Jan 13, 2012 12:17 PM CST reply actions

Yep

The overwhelming majority of NFL games are still on broadcast television. That’s not the case with MLB. If you live in Nashville, you don’t have to worry about Titans games being blacked out because their games are sold out well in advance. On the other hand, if you live in St. Louis, you could have a problem with blackouts because the Rams rarely sell out.

Good things come to those who wait... and wait....and wait.

by memphiscub on Jan 13, 2012 12:31 PM CST up reply actions