If Sen. John McCain gets his wish, those blackouts will become obsolete. McCain introduced the Television Consumer Freedom Act of 2013 on Thursday, billing it as an avenue to "help shift the landscape to benefit television consumers." The heart of the legislation is an effort to curb "bundling," which would allow customers to purchase channels on an individual basis rather than paying for packages of channels they won't watch. McCain's bill also aims to eliminate the sports blackout rule which prohibits local television stations from airing an NFL game that is not sold out. While that proposal has no shot of standing up in privately owned stadiums, McCain wants it implemented for any team whose stadium was funded with taxpayer dollars. "When the venue in which these sporting events take place has been the beneficiary of taxpayer funding," McClain said via the Los Angeles Times, "it is unconscionable to deny those taxpayers who paid for it the ability to watch the games on television when they would otherwise be available." Source: NFL.com
maybe tax payers that live in cities with the teams and stadiums they help pay for should get a deal on ticket prices
Is he still around? I thought he got put in a home or something. Last time I heard him speak he appeared to clearly be suffering from some sort of advanced senile dementia, I assumed they sent him off to Shady Acres ages ago.
well the blackout has never made sense to me at all because nfl teams are biting off their nose to spite their face by not showing local games which get huge ratings. its just stupid business. having said that there is absolutely no reason that a government should get involved in this.
I agree there are many many more important things for our leaders to be worried about, but the government's already involved in the ridiculous process of funding stadiums, and if my tax money helps pay for it you really shouldn't have a right to black me out because I don't feel like also paying to go to the game, IMO. If they don't like it, don't take public money, because this fight highlights the strings and oversight that comes with it. Not really related, but there's a big fight going on in my state because our butthole governor thinks he can fund economic development with public money, but give it to a "private" company owned by the state to skirt all sunshine and open meeting laws and operate without oversight.
yep there are so many tax gifts and tax loopholes for companies at the local, state and federal levels. these places want to keep the companies in a particular city or state or keep them in the country so badly that they basically let them operate for free in some cases.
The government already is involved via stadium and roadway construction. If a game is being played in a stadium that my dollars have helped pay for, why can they block the broadcast to me?
