McCain’s bill — the Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013 — primarily addresses the bundling of cable and satellite programming so that consumers can have “a la carte” programming. The bill also seeks to discourage broadcasters from taking their networks to cable by pulling their licenses if they do so. But most importantly for sports fans, it includes a provision eliminating the Sports Broadcasting Act’s sports blackout rule.

To review, the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 — which was pushed through Congress by then-NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle — allows teams to collectively negotiate broadcast contracts and allows teams to black out home games on broadcast television in the local markets. The SBA thus codified the anti-fan practice of blacking out fans from seeing their favorite teams play home games.

Here’s the provision of the Sports Broadcasting Act that relates to blackouts:

[The Sports Broadcasting Act] shall not apply to any joint agreement… which prohibits any person to whom rights are sold or transferred from televising any games within any area, except within the home territory of a member club of the league on a day when such club is playing a game at home.

Because the SBA only refers to broadcasting of games, the FCC later adopted its sports blackout rule, which states that if a local broadcaster can’t air a home game, then cable and satellite providers cannot either. (As you know, Sports Fans Coalition has asked the FCC to eliminate its rule.)

So here’s the key provision in McCain’s legislation:

SPORTS BLACKOUT REPEAL FOR PUBLICLY FINANCED STADIUMS

The Commission shall amend subpart F of part 76 of subchapter C of chapter I of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (47 C.F.R. 76.92 et seq.), to prohibit the application of sports blackout regulations to the broadcast of a sporting event taking place in a venue the construction of which was financed, in whole or in part, by the Federal Government or a State or local government.

Once again, a huge THANK YOU to Sen. John McCain for looking out for sports fans and fighting to end blackouts.

Shouldn’t that gift to Richardson at least come with a promise from him that he won’t black out fans? Or further raise ticket prices?

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who was honored at Sports Fans Coalition’s “Most Valuable Policymaker” (MVP) awards last year, grilled FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and the other four FCC Commissioners at a Senate oversight hearing about blackouts of sports events and why the FCC isn’t doing more to stop them.  Citing the proceeding instigated by SFC to end the Sports Blackout Rule, Sen. Blumenthal pressed Chairman Genachowski on why the FCC hasn’t done more. Here’s a transcript of the exchange:

BLUMENTHAL: Finally, because my time is limited: Blackouts. Sports blackouts. Grave concern, deeply troubling, especially to many in Connecticut. When they see that their favorite football team on Sunday or their favorite baseball team or their college sports team has been blacked out in their area. The commission, as you know, put out a notice of inquiry but hasn’t yet moved to a notice of rulemaking. I wrote to the FCC back in 2011 to ask that you open this proceeding to discuss whether the nearly 40 year-old sports blackout rule, I think it’s 40 years old, is still relevant in today’s environment. And I wonder if you could give me an update, a status report, on where you are on this issue, which is profoundly important to people in Connecticut, but I think across the nation. 

GENACHOWSKI: Blackouts are of tremendous concern to consumers, we certainly hear from them as you do. An area where it comes up too often is the retransmission consent area. This is an area where we’ve had discussions with the committee in the past and look forward to continuing it, as it may be time to update those provisions to reduce the chances of blackouts during retransmission consent negotiations. 

Thank you, Sen. Blumenthal!  Sports fans across America once again can see that you’re on their side.  Blackouts are obnoxious.  They abuse the very public that helped pay for sports through public stadium subsidies and through massive exemptions to the law enacted by Congress.  Whether a local blackout ordered by a sports league or a take-down during a contract dispute, it’s the fan who suffers.  It has to end.  Sen. Blumenthal gets it.

So what does this say about the new policy? It worked in some cases and didn’t in others. It could have worked in some cases and would have made no difference in others. Clearly, it’s a flawed policy. But then, the blackout policy itself is flawed — since, as top sports economists agree, “BLACKOUTS HAVE NO SIGNIFICANT EFFECT ON TICKET SALES IN THE NFL.” Just look at Tampa Bay, which has now blacked out fans for 25 of the last 29 games. IT CLEARLY ISN’T WORKING. In fact, it’s likely killing the fan base. Moreover, the blackout rule is unethical and punishes the disabled and elderly fans. The Buffalo Bills are blacking out fans this week just days after securing $226 million in public subsidies for stadium renovations.

Most importantly, Sports Fans Coalition continues to ask why the government should be in the business of blacking out games? The FCC’s sports blackout rule is antiquated and needlessly punishes consumers. The government’s continued enforcement of a blackout rule written by broadcasters and the leagues four decades ago is the height of crony capitalism. Sports Fans Coalition has offered a reasonable alternative — let’s sunset the blackout policy in two years — but still the NFL insists on needlessly blacking out fans. When will the absurdity end?

List of Blackouts in 2012

(please credit SportsFans.org for this research!)

Week 1
Tampa Bay (Carolina)

Week 3
San Diego (Atlanta)

Week 4
Tampa Bay (Washington)

Week 6
Tampa Bay (KC)

Week 10
Tampa Bay (San Diego)
Cincinnati (New York Giants)

Week 12
Tampa Bay (Atlanta)
San Diego (Baltimore)

Week 13
Oakland (Cleveland)
San Diego (Cincinnati)
Buffalo (Jacksonville)

Week 15
San Diego (Carolina)

Week 16
Tampa Bay (St. Louis)

Week 17
Buffalo (N.Y. Jets)

The NFL sure appreciates the support it receives from the public…

The blackout is the 14th in the NFL this season. The Oakland Raiders have received an extension for ticket sales for this weekend’s game….

So as a result, the Atlanta public is now going to kick in what deMause now reports could be $400 million or more. Here’s deMause’s take on the whole thing:

So there’s your answer: It’s for the fans. You know, the fans who overwhelmingly say they don’t want pay for this thing. But they don’t really know what they want, because if given the choice they’d stay home and watch on their big-screen TVs rather than pay big bucks to go to the game… okay, wait, they do know what they want, which is why we have to have them pay tax money to help build a new stadium to lure them into going to the game and paying even bigger bucks when they don’t want to, because otherwise we’d have to get them to the game by lowering ticket prices or something, and, and…

The insanity continues…Will anybody in Atlanta stand up to Blank?

Please check out deMause’s two original posts here:

Construction sales tax break could send Falcons stadium subsidy to $400m or more

Falcons owner: We need $300m in tax money because TVs are too nice these days

According to Level5 chief executive officer David Kincaid, the survey was conducted not for the benefit of the league but as a tool that might be sold to the multiple corporate sponsors of professional hockey, in order to show what they need to tap into with hockey fans if they hope to regain their former good standing.

It will not be easy.

“We found damage at levels we have not seen,” Kincaid says. “It’s quite alarming, really.

“If anyone thinks that the lockout can end and everyone will come back to Happy Valley, it ain’t going to happen.”

You can read the rest of the article here. If the ethics of locking out a public that has invested billions in public subsidies aren’t enough to force NHL owners to end the lockout, perhaps the threat of doing serious, long-term damage to the brand will. As Bob Dylan wrote, “You can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way.”

The Charger blackout marks the 13th in the NFL this season.