DON’T TAKE AWAY OUR GAMES!
Summary of Sports Fans Coalition Filing before the FCC
The FCC should protect fans from media conglomerates’ brass-knuckled business tactics and prohibit broadcasters from blacking out sports during TV distribution contract negotiations.
Sports fans have become pawns in contract disputes between TV companies. When a broadcaster wants to gain leverage in a negotiation with a cable or satellite company, it threatens to take away games from sports fans.
FANS HAVE BECOME A POLITICAL FOOTBALL
When it comes to TV distribution disputes, the fans who are vital to the success of the game and who have contributed to its success through multiple public and private expenditures are treated like a fumbled pigskin.
Without sports fans, there would be no sports media economy. The fans buy the tickets, watch the games, pay for their sports tiers, purchase their sports packages, and wildly support their teams. That support is reflected in the public goods granted by government to keep the games going. Broadcasters, who receive their FCC licenses from the public at no cost, acquire television rights from professional sports leagues, who negotiate those rights under a special federal antitrust exemption enacted just for that purpose, or collegiate leagues, who enjoy non-profit tax status and often federal and state subsidies. The televised games often are played in stadiums and arenas built with taxpayer dollars or regulatory waivers. In addition to the public goods spent on sports, the fans themselves pay for sports programming with the legitimate expectation that they will watch the games for which they pay.
Despite fans’ public and private contributions to sports, however, they are rewarded with threats and gamesmanship during TV distribution contract disputes. The recurring threat of blackouts during these disputes causes significant uncertainty, frustration, anxiety, and confusion for sports fans. Fans must scramble to make alternate plans when disputes threaten to disrupt or block access to major sporting events. For example, as the FOX disputes went down to the wire heading into New Year’s Day this year, fans did not know whether to go ahead with viewing parties.
Sports fans do not care who “wins” in these disputes or how they get resolved. Fans simply want to avoid being held hostage as broadcasters battle over fees with pay-TV providers.
PROHIBIT BLACKOUTS OF SPORTING EVENTS
From the fans’ perspective, the best solution would be a rule that prohibits broadcasters from pulling their signals—and blocking access to sporting events—in the first place. The FCC has a long history of laying down ground rules for what is and is not permissible behavior during a retransmission consent negotiation. Cable providers, for example, may not take down broadcast signals during a Nielsen ratings “sweeps” period. This rule is designed to protect ratings harm to broadcasters during a negotiation. Why not protect sports fans, too?
Broadcasters have an obligation to serve the public interest, and the FCC can enforce that obligation by preventing them from withdrawing, or threatening to withdraw, popular sports programming from the cable or satellite services at the expense of sports fans, who do not want to be dragged into these fights.
If a broadcaster is willing to broadcast a game over the air for free, there is no reason why it should block access for fans who pay for a cable or satellite subscription. If sports fans can look forward to big games without the stress of wondering whether payment disputes will disrupt access, they will reward the television networks and distributors by being loyal viewers.
Sports fans across the United States ask that the Commission bring an end to the personal fouls imposed on fans during retransmission consent fights. Let’s put the fans on a level playing field for once and keep the games on.
