Skip Oliva: Will the FCC Let Televised Football Be?

|

NFL
NFL

The Federal Communications Commission recently repealed a 1975 regulation banning cable and satellite operators from televising certain professional sporting events that were not otherwise made available to local broadcast stations. This regulation formed part of the so-called blackout rule enforced by the National Football League. Critics have long decried blackouts as the byproduct of special government privileges afforded the NFL. But the truth is a bit more complicated than that, writes Skip Oliva.