The Sports Fans Coalition continued to urge the...
The Sports Fans Coalition continued to urge the FCC to repeal the sports blackout rule. While the FCC may find it prudent to sunset the rules by a certain date, it shouldn’t “delay taking swift action on a final Order…
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that would ultimately eliminate” the sports blackout rule, SFC and the National Consumers League said in an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 12-3 (http://bit.ly/1iHmJrO). The rule is unnecessary because professional sports leagues, like the NFL, can rely on market forces to negotiate with cable- and satellite-TV providers to continue their blackout policies, it said. The rule serves as a government subsidy “that harms fans by cutting televised access to games the ticket buying public has determined are too expensive to attend in person,” it said. The filing recounts meetings with staff from the offices of Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel.