FCC blows the whistle on NFL blackout rule

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously to end a rule that allowed the NFL to block games from airing on cable or satellite if the stadium isn't sold out.

Voting 5-0 Tuesday, the federal panel dismissed the football league's argument that the rule helps keep games airing for free on network television, while at the same time boosting attendance.

"It's a simple fact, the federal government should not be party to sports teams keeping their fans from viewing the games -- period," said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. "For 40 years these teams have hidden behind a rule of the FCC. No more. Everyone needs to be aware of who allows blackouts to exist, and it is not the Federal Communications Commission."

The rule allowed all sports teams to bar cable and satellite providers from airing the games, but won't necessarily affect blackouts of local broadcast, where contracts exist between the NFL and the local CBS or Fox channels. First implemented in 1975, the FCC had previously protected the extension of those blackouts.

Still, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said Tuesday's decision "takes our public policy finger off the scale."

The league angered the commissioners by trying to argue that the rules had kept the NFL from going exclusively to pay TV, unlike most other sports.

"If the league truly has the best interest of millions of American fans at heart, they could simply commit to staying on network television in perpetuity," Wheeler said.

Teams no longer rely as much as they did on selling out their stadiums for revenue, and instead make most of their money from television rights. Just two of the 256 regular season games were blacked out in 2013, and only 16 in 2011, in just four cities: Buffalo, Cincinnati, San Diego and Tampa Bay. Therefore, the FCC found, the rule punished just a small number of fan bases.

The NFL said it is reviewing the ruling to determine how to proceed.

"With or without the rule, the league will continue to work to find new ways to bring more people to the game, and bring the game to more people," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.