• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, December 17, 2010

There's a new TV season developing: not the premiere TV season, not the winter weekend NFL season, not the replacement show mid-season, nor the repeat season. It's the retransmission blackout season.

  Seems like the end of the year is now the time for cable operators, TV station groups and cable networks to get their business-war gear on. Big TV marketing campaigns can be waged by each side -- almost to the levels of starting up new shows.

This is the time when Bowl Championship Series college football games; New Year Eve's special event programming; big-time award shows; and the start of shows such as "American Idol" -- all seem in jeopardy.

Perhaps we all need a break. Shut down our TVs for a winter snooze, and prod them gently for wake-up in February and March, when the networks typically ramp up a rash of original series episodes. If not a complete rest, then perhaps we need to cut back a bit -- since regular season programs on broadcast networks, for the most part, go into hibernation in December and January.

Maybe we all need to get caught up on other entertainment -- movies, past TV shows, limited serial dramas we may have missed, electronic books -- or even some Wii Fit exercise games.

Some believe the Federal Communications Commission should step in to stop transmission blackouts, forcing these powerful companies into a cooling-down period or mediation.

Why bother? We can do our own voluntary cooling-off period -- which would mean less pressure on network programming executives.

What better Christmas present can we give those hard-working TV staffers who are only looking out for our entertainment needs?