NFL To Suspend Blackout Policy for 2015

[tweet]https://twitter.com/506sports/status/580071667927556096[/tweet]

Not fond of the word "suspend", as it should be permanent, but it's a start

Finally.

Looks like they will re-evaluate after this season:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/KevinClarkWSJ/status/580071257124704257[/tweet]

Thank god!

I hope they make this permanent so that teams are forced to update their stadiums. Now owners will actually have their poor facilities and high costs for bad product on the field hit them in their pockets.

last year the Federal Communications Commission took a stand against the blackout rule, and there were no blackouts in 2014.....
...... More and more, the NFL is a television sport, and the fans expect to be able to see their teams on TV.

Click to expand...

[urltargetblank]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/03/23/nfl-will-not-have-local-tv-blackouts-in-2015/[/urltargetblank]

I would go to more games if it wasnt so expensive these days. Just to go to one game would cost me almost as much as the Smart TV I bought last fall.

:th2thumbs: First good thing Rog has done in awhile. Good job Rog!

I hope this applies to the UK as well, bloody hate it when a Hawks game is blacked out for 24 hours on Gamepass.

original poster":3fh0layr said:

I hope this applies to the UK as well, bloody hate it when a Hawks game is blacked out for 24 hours on Gamepass.

Click to expand...

Blackouts are just in relation to home markets. And they essentially already eliminated blackouts last year with a change to the blackout policy.

Gamepass doesn't show games when third party distributor packages show the same game in the market (e.g. whatever channel shows NFL games in the U.K. is showing the Hawks game, so it's not available on Gamepass so that game cast isn't competing with the sold broadcast rights). That's either never going to change, or won't be changing any time soon.

Popeyejones":1c1lxmt6 said:

original poster":1c1lxmt6 said:

I hope this applies to the UK as well, bloody hate it when a Hawks game is blacked out for 24 hours on Gamepass.

Click to expand...

Blackouts are just in relation to home markets. And they essentially already eliminated blackouts last year with a change to the blackout policy.

Gamepass doesn't show games when third party distributor packages show the same game in the market (e.g. whatever channel shows NFL games in the U.K. is showing the Hawks game, so it's not available on Gamepass so that game cast isn't competing with the sold broadcast rights). That's either never going to change, or won't be changing any time soon.

Click to expand...

Not the same, but similar in a way. The NFL is experimenting with broadcasting the Bills/Jaguars game this season on a different platform. While the game will still be available for local broadcast, it's supposedly being made available in another way. I haven't looked into it too much, just heard a blurb on the radio about it, but at least they are looking into new ways to get the games out there, even while being broadcast on television.

kidhawk":2o0saexm said:

Popeyejones":2o0saexm said:

original poster":2o0saexm said:

I hope this applies to the UK as well, bloody hate it when a Hawks game is blacked out for 24 hours on Gamepass.

Click to expand...

Blackouts are just in relation to home markets. And they essentially already eliminated blackouts last year with a change to the blackout policy.

Gamepass doesn't show games when third party distributor packages show the same game in the market (e.g. whatever channel shows NFL games in the U.K. is showing the Hawks game, so it's not available on Gamepass so that game cast isn't competing with the sold broadcast rights). That's either never going to change, or won't be changing any time soon.

Click to expand...

Not the same, but similar in a way. The NFL is experimenting with broadcasting the Bills/Jaguars game this season on a different platform. While the game will still be available for local broadcast, it's supposedly being made available in another way. I haven't looked into it too much, just heard a blurb on the radio about it, but at least they are looking into new ways to get the games out there, even while being broadcast on television.

Click to expand...

The NFL will offer that game via local TV in Buffalo and Jacksonville and online streaming nationally, but it won't be available on DirecTV's NFL Sunday Ticket.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... n-directv/

Ah rubbish, got my hopes up about that!

I wish they would suspend the Seahawks All Access blackout policy. I used to get it on directv then they started blacking it out. Not sure why because it isn't available locally.

ivotuk":1dwlvfzp said:

I wish they would suspend the Seahawks All Access blackout policy. I used to get it on directv then they started blacking it out. Not sure why because it isn't available locally.

Click to expand...

Stupidest thing I ever heard of. I could understand the tv blackout because it pushes local fans into the seats, at least there's SOME argument there, but I have yet to hear a single argument how a show that talks about the Seahawks and shows some highlights along with interviews and discussion on previous and upcoming games needs to be blocked from being viewed anywhere at all.

It's ridiculous.

This to me seems like indication that L.A. is going to be fielding a team in 2015. This is just typical NFL hypocrisy aimed to help sell L.A. on a new football team by making sure said new team gets plenty of exposure on the air.

SalishHawkFan":hwr27wu8 said:

This to me seems like indication that L.A. is going to be fielding a team in 2015. This is just typical NFL hypocrisy aimed to help sell L.A. on a new football team by making sure said new team gets plenty of exposure on the air.

Click to expand...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

And, how many blackouts do you think there were in 2014?


Yes: zero. So any affect on bars or Direct TV will be exactly the same as last season.

This is not new, it is just now official. This is the Senate enforcing what the FCC already did last season. It's also kinda funny that it is getting blamed on three "lame duck cities" for this upcoming season since it changes nothing from last season in reality except the reason why.

From December 2014:

The FCC’s decision in September to quit enforcing the NFL’s blackout rule didn’t end the blackout rule. With no blackouts in the 2014 NFL season, the Senate nevertheless wants the NFL to get rid of the blackout rule for good.....Meanwhile, the NFL has enjoyed a blackout-free year — due in part to the decision by multiple teams to take advantage of the rule that allows as few as 85 percent of all non-premium tickets to be sold and/or to guarantee that any unsold non-premium tickets will be purchased at 34 cents on the dollar, necessarily lifting the blackout.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... kout-rule/