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John McCain leads drive to end blackout of NFL games, targets publically finance

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Author Topic: John McCain leads drive to end blackout of NFL games, targets publically finance  (Read 239 times)
Psalm 51:17
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« on: July 13, 2013, 06:32:59 pm »

So McCain doesn't think the immigration reform bill isn't a detriment to this country, but is making a big deal out of THIS?

McCain leads drive to end blackout of NFL games, targets publically financed stadiums

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain is taking the field against a long-standing federal regulation that blocks NFL fans from seeing televised, hometown games when their stadium doesn’t sell out.

McCain rolled out his game plan in May, as part of a larger Senate bill to allow pay-TV viewers to pick and choose channels instead of being forced to purchases them in typically more-expensive packages.

The blackout rule, adopted by the National Football League in 1975, essentially blocks local TV stations from broadcasting games in home markets if the stadium is not sold out 72 hours before kickoff and prevents cable and satellite providers from carrying the games.

However, the rule can be traced to a 1961 antitrust law that allows the league to negotiate billions of dollars worth of TV contracts for its teams. 

McCain followed his legislation with a letter last month to the Federal Communication Commission that urges the agency to make a final decision on the so-called Sports Blackout Rule, following a year of agency fact gathering “to determine whether the rule remains in the public interest.”

The June 19 letter to acting agency Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn states the fact-finding effort already includes legal arguments, a “white paper” by sports economists and thousands of comments from fans across the country.

It also lays out a range of options -- from keeping or ending the rule to changing its guidelines. And it argues the agency has plenty of authority to act without help from Congress.

“With so much detailed information on the record from such a wide range of stakeholders, it is time for the commission to take the next logical step … ,” reads the letter, cosigned by Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

The blackout rule was modified last year when the NFL allowed each of its 32 teams to decide whether to allow locals broadcasts when their stadiums are at least 85 percent full -- a move to help such struggling franchises as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the San Diego Chargers.

McCain’s primary argument is that fans shouldn’t be blocked from viewing games in stadiums that they subsidized through state and local taxes.

“Now, if that stadium is not taxpayer-financed, then that owner can do anything they want to. But if the taxpayers paid for them then, by God, I think the taxpayers ought to be able to see the game whether they sell out the stadium or not," “McCain testified during a May 14 Senate subcommittee hearing, according to the St. Paul Pioneer-Press.

He has strong support from the Washington-based interest group Sports Fans Coalition, which also argues stadiums are built with the help of billions in tax dollars. So either broadcast all of the games or make tickets more affordable.

“HUGE! McCain introduces legislation prohibiting TV blackouts in stadiums built with public money,” the group wrote on its website this spring.

Officials for the hugely profitable league argue the sellout rule helps pays the bills through ticket sales because fans would otherwise watch from home. They also say filling the seats has cut the blackout rate from 56 percent in 1977 to 6 percent last year.

Any proposed, large-scale change would almost certainly face a strong challenge from the league and the National Association of Broadcasters’ powerful and deep-pocketed lobbying efforts.

They collectively spent at least $15.9 million on lobbying last year, according to OpenSecrets.org.

“It’s nothing short of a Washington miracle that we’ve gotten this far,” coalition Chairman David Goodfriend, a former Dish Network executive, told the Pioneer-Press.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/07/13/mccain-leads-drive-to-end-blackout-nfl-games-targets-publically-financed/#ixzz2YyIPFEv1
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Kilika
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« Reply #1 on: July 14, 2013, 05:24:47 am »

Well, we know the deal in Washington and immigration, so yeah, he doesn't think anything is detrimental except for whatever bill he's pushing through Congress.

That said, he has a valid point on this topic, regardless of his hypocritical political attitude.

Quote
McCain’s primary argument is that fans shouldn’t be blocked from viewing games in stadiums that they subsidized through state and local taxes.

“Now, if that stadium is not taxpayer-financed, then that owner can do anything they want to. But if the taxpayers paid for them then, by God, I think the taxpayers ought to be able to see the game whether they sell out the stadium or not," “McCain testified during a May 14 Senate subcommittee hearing, according to the St. Paul Pioneer-Press.

The point though that should be made is that no public money should go to supporting private business in that manner. Why should people who hate sports pay for a sports team? And why should property owners be made to pay for a school system they don't support, or even have kids, but I digress!

Technologically, cable/satellite companies can make available whatever channel they want.

They have those "packages" due to how they charge channels to make them available to viewers. Less viewed channels get charged less, so they stuff them together with more watched channels, which theoretically increases viewers for that less watched channel, which in turn leads to ads being watched more, thus more ad dollars, etc. It's one big ugly web of contracts across the industry, seeing by contracts is how the entertainment industry does business. Everybody is an independent contractor of some sort, right down to the actors and many of the production staff, and at least in California, they all work under unions, which is why the industry likes to work in places like Arizona, which has no movie/tv union requirements like California.

Anyway, McCain has it right on this one. These "packages" being offered is a scam and needs to stop. And if they insist on "bill stuffing", then stuff this one with a bill that stops cellular companies from doing the exact same thing with their calling "packages". And make them stop charging that strong-arm tactic of an "early cancellation" fee.

If a company cannot keep a customer, then the company needs to be penalized by the customer leaving for a different company, not penalize the customer for not being happy with the company, or trapping the customer and forcing them to use their product with a "2 year service agreement"! To me, that stuff is an even bigger outrage than the cable channels issue.
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