For those of you that have uttered those words before, you know the frustration of sports blackouts. You’ve seen the dreaded words “This program has been blacked out in your area.” You have a house full of people and a bunch of snacks and no game to watch. So, you may want to know why blackouts happen. No, it has nothing to do with the local power company nor is it the fault of your local cable provider.
The simple explanation is that a blackout is when certain programming, primarily sports, cannot be shown in a particular market. If a local TV broadcaster cannot carry the local game, then no other broadcaster can show the game in the blackout area. The decision to black out an event is based on agreements between the various sports leagues and broadcasters, not your cable provider.
For example, the NFL’s rules are that any broadcaster that has a signal within 75 miles of an NFL stadium can broadcast the game only if the game is a road game or if the game was a sell out within 72 or more prior to the start of the game. Additionally, the broadcaster is not allowed to broadcast a game, even if it’s sold out, if one of the teams did not sell out their tickets. Broadcasters with NFL Contracts are required to show their markets’ road games. These rules ensure that teams with winning records will have the majority of their games broadcast while fans of teams with losing records may only have their road games to watch.
The blackout rules apply to all broadcasters, even in those instances where you are subscribing to a particular sports package with your cable provider. These games are subject to the same blackout rules.
As you can see, the rules can be complicated and frustrating. Being a fan of the Houston Texans, I’m lucky if I see two games a year; most of the time I follow the game on the internet, from one of the available sports sites. This is certainly an option, but having a large group of people hovering around your computer with snacks and drinks may not be a viable option for you. But, on the other hand, maybe it is.
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