Commentary

FCC Ends NFL Blackout Rules: NFL's Response? We're Free TV

Hard-core NFL viewers will now be running home to watch their big TV screens now that the Federal Communications Commission blackout rules are over. After all, who needs to pay $100 a ticket to be in a cold winter stadium when you have heat at home!

Truth is, not many will be coming home. There were only two games last season that were blacked out on local TV -- out of a total of 512.

The blackout rules originally started some 40 years ago in an attempt to help a still-growing NFL in securing revenues from stadium sales of seats rather than from TV networks, which at the time were a much smaller piece of the NFL total revenue take.

NFL now makes over $6 billion from TV deals out of $9.2 billion overall  -- which also include stadium seat sales, big lead NFL sponsorship deals (not tied to TV advertising deals), and merchandising.

The NFL wasn’t happy about the ending of the blackout rules -- but considering all the bad news to hit the League recently, with poor publicity for off-screen player behavior of their players, as well as news about players’ concussion rate news -- the ending of the blackout rules are like a couple of flies circling your nice pre-game barbecue.

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The NFL responded in a positive way toward its fans: That it the only big sport to offer all its games via “free” over the air television.

That’s the part that caused some concern from the FCC commissioners -- that the NFL might sell those games to networks as part of a premium TV package, say an HBO, where it could charge viewers a couple of hundred dollars per season to access that content. All that would mean fewer U.S. citizens would have access to those games.

Truth is, of course, 90% of U.S. TV consumers already pay for NFL content, in big monthly TV packages of networks/stations made with pay TV distributors --  cable, satellite and telco operators. Free TV isn’t exactly free.

But I digress. There seems little to no likelihood the NFL would soon move in a premium TV direction -- not just because of the wrath of disaffected TV NFL viewers (most whom never attend actual games) but from TV advertisers now looking for other ways to be associated with the league.

Additionally, NFL games continue to be shining star for TV networks -- still the top rated content overall, from

Sunday afternoon and primetime regular season games on the likes of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” (the number one TV series among viewers), as well as all playoff games including the biggest TV rated show of the year, the Super Bowl.

Even then, what do you now find from those NFL partons after paying extraordinary high priced seats for the live NFL experience at stadium: NFL fans watching the action via smartphones and other mobile devices while at the games -- that is, if they are not also watching on those really big in-stadium video screens.

So, let me ask you: What would really ding the League’s revenues? Only your local/personal screen knows the answer.

 

3 comments about "FCC Ends NFL Blackout Rules: NFL's Response? We're Free TV".
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  1. Chuck Lantz from 2007ac.com, 2017ac.com network, October 1, 2014 at 6 p.m.

    It help if someone edit article to missing words MediaPost. It happens often articles I read here.

  2. Gene Thomas from Telecom Consult, October 2, 2014 at 2:34 p.m.

    Of course the loss of the black out rule does not really hurt the NFL, When stadium ticket sales are lost to those who watch the game at home, it is the "stadium company" that loses that revenue.

  3. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, November 6, 2014 at 11:12 p.m.

    Paying taxes on their exorbitant profits as they lose their non-profit status and finance their own stadiums would, in the least, bring some relief to municipalities they squeeze and the US tax payers. For them, it still wouldn't be such a big ding.

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