Blackout (broadcasting)
Encyclopedia
Blackout usually relates to the broadcasting of sports events
, television program
ming, that is prohibited in a certain media market
.
The purpose is theoretically to generate more revenue
by obliging certain actions from fans, either by making them buy tickets or watch other games on TV. While financially a logical procedure on the part of those providing the programming, blackouts are frequently unpopular with the affected audience as it will cause some fans to miss the game completely even if they were willing to enter the stadium and pay.
A similar term, known as preemption (or pre-emption), often refers to stations blacking out a program for other than regulatory or governmental reasons, such as when a local station preempts a television network
program for local news (an example of a regular preemption) or a special program (an example of a one-time preemption).
s in Canada, polls close in different parts of the country at different times. Section 329 of the Canada Elections Act
outlaws publishing election results from other ridings in constituencies where polls were still open, ostensibly to prevent the results from the East
from influencing voters in western ridings
.
However, in the federal election in 2000
, one Paul Charles Bryan published results from Atlantic Canada
on the Internet despite being told not to by the authorities. Bryan was charged before the Provincial Court of British Columbia
, but fought the charges as unconstitutional under section 2
of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
, which protects freedom of expression and freedom of association
. Bryan's victory before the British Columbia Supreme Court meant that voters in British Columbia
and the rest of Canada legally learned of election results in other ridings during the federal election in 2004
. However, Elections Canada appealed, and Bryan lost his case before the British Columbia Court of Appeal
. Bryan further appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada
, but in a ruling made on March 15, 2007 (R. v. Bryan
), in a 5-4 ruling, the Court ruled that Section 329 of the Canada Elections Act is constitutional and justified under section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
. Stephen Harper
, who later became prime minister, labelled Elections Canada
"jackasses" and tried to raise money for Bryan. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
also supported Bryan, hoping to "make election night a bigger event that it already is."
Before the 2000 election, Elections Canada moved to reduce the effects of the blackout and the influence of unauthorized knowledge of election results in Western ridings by altering the times that polls close so that polls no longer close at the same local time throughout the country. Polls in Atlantic Canada
now close at 9 p.m. Atlantic (9:30 in Newfoundland). Polls from Alberta
to Quebec
close an hour later (9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central and 7 p.m. Mountain) and finally, polls in B.C. close an hour after that (7 p.m. Pacific). Historically, the results of the election are often not decisively known until more than an hour after polls close in Ontario
and Quebec, but are usually known within two hours of these polls closing.
Provincial elections are not subject to blackout restrictions - in those provinces that have two time zones the vast majority of the population lives in one time zone or the other. Election laws in these provinces stipulate that all polls are to close at the same time - this time invariably being 8:00 p.m. (or 9:00 p.m. in Ontario beginning with the 2007 provincial election
) in the time zone of the majority.
On August 17, 2011, Elections Canada Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand
suggested to Parliament that the current voting system needs to be improved, the improvements including a repeal on the ban of early election results in areas where polls are still open; this is in light of the expanded use of social media to transmit results outside of radio and television. According to his report, Mayrand says that "the growing use of social media puts in question not only the practical enforceability of the rule, but also its very intelligibility and usefulness in a world where the distinction between private communication and public transmission is quickly eroding. The time has come for Parliament to consider revoking the current rule."
games on TSN
are subject to local blackouts. For example, Edmonton Eskimos
home games are not broadcast in Edmonton
or the immediate surrounding area to ensure that fans buy tickets. In the case of Saskatchewan Roughriders
home games the blackout zone covers the entire province of Saskatchewan
, largely because that team relies more than the others on province-wide support.
The home team has the option of lifting a blackout for games that sell out. Unlike in the NFL however, the home team is not obliged to lift a blackout in such cases.
has no blackout policy that is dependent on ticket sales, therefore nationally televised games on the CBC
's Hockey Night in Canada
and on TSN
are never blacked out in any part of the country.
However, regional broadcasts under the authority of individual NHL teams are subject to blackout outside the teams' designated home territories. Sportsnet holds the regional broadcast rights to most of the NHL teams in Canada in a manner similar to the regional sports network
s of the United States, and out-of-market games are, in general, blacked out outside of the region served by the Sportsnet channel carrying the game. Similarly, TSN owns regional broadcast rights to two NHL teams, the Montreal Canadiens
(English language only) and the Winnipeg Jets
; both are carried on special digital feeds of the network only carried within their markets.
As an exception, French language
rights to the Canadiens are owned by RDS
, a national French-language sports network also operated by TSN. As its contract is technically a national NHL contract (albeit one negotiated through the Canadiens), that channel is allowed to carry all Canadiens games nationally.
Another exception are Chicago Blackhawks
games aired on WGN-TV
. As WGN is an over-the-air station, Canadian cable and satellite providers are not legally required to black out these telecasts, even when the Blackhawks play a Canadian team. However, providers that carry NHL Centre Ice
may be bound by their agreements with the NHL to perform these blackouts nonetheless.
and the National Hockey League
have very similar blackout rules. Unlike the National Football League
, the blackout of games have nothing to do with attendance, but instead are implemented to protect broadcasters with contracts to air games.
Unless a national broadcaster has exclusive rights to a certain game, the local broadcaster of a game (such as an FSN
network for example) has priority over a national broadcasterso if ESPN
or MLB Network
is airing a game that is also being aired by the local broadcaster, the national feed would be blacked out in markets where a local broadcaster is also showing coverage. Similar blackouts occur on other networks which telecast nationally, such as WGN, although this would be considered a local broadcast in Chicago
respectively since the network only cover its local team (the game would be blacked out in the opponent's market only). The same restriction was in place when TBS
televised the Atlanta Braves
, which was a local broadcast in Atlanta.
Fox has exclusive rights to any MLB games starting between 4:00 PM ET and 7:00 PM ET on Saturdays, and ESPN holds exclusive rights to games starting after 8:00 PM ET on Sundays
. In either case, both broadcasters have exclusivity during their respective time windows. The Atlanta Braves
, Texas Rangers
, and Florida Marlins
, who play in open-air stadiums in extremely hot climates (making night games a necessity in the summer months) are often granted waivers so as to allow their local networks to carry the games (unless however the game is shown by a national broadcaster). For FOX, this generally applies to one time-slot per market, since its coverage is not usually a doubleheader. Thus, local television coverage is allowed during the other time-slot, but the game will not air on MLB Extra Innings.
Starting with the new MLB TV contract in 2007, TBS will telecast a Sunday afternoon game-of-the-week, but no nationwide exclusivity is granted to the network, thus the TBS broadcast is blacked out in the market areas of the competing teams. The same contract will grant Fox more flexible start times for broadcasts (Fox moves up games to 3:00 PM ET starts when Saturday night NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Fort Worth, TX
, Richmond, VA
, and Florence, SC
, all of which start at 7:30 PM ET, to prevent pre-emptions such as the 2008 Phoenix race) may expand the window of exclusivity; also starting in 2011, some games are set for 7:30 PM ET starts, mainly because a late May game has to start there, as Fox has coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final, which kicks off at 8:30 PM CET (2:30 PM ET).
If a regional sports network
owns the rights to two NHL teams that are competing in the same game, the NHL will allow the channel to use SAP to carry commentary from both teams throughout both teams' coverage areas on the same channel. This most commonly happens with MSG Network
, which owns the broadcast rights to four NHL teams from fairly disparate areas: New Jersey's New Jersey Devils
, Long Island's New York Islanders
, New York City's New York Rangers
, and Buffalo's Buffalo Sabres
(although the Sabres control the entire production of their broadcast through the Sabres Hockey Network
, while MSG produces the other three broadcasts). For instance, though MSG will only produce one pregame and postgame show for a game between the Islanders and Sabres, they will carry the Sabres Hockey Network on the main audio feed in upstate New York and the Islanders' commentators on SAP; however, in New York City and Long Island, viewers hear the Islanders broadcasters on the main feed and the Sabres commentators on SAP.
Additionally in the NHL, local and regional networks are not granted broadcasts rights for national televised games by Comcast's NBC broadcast network or cable NBC Sports Network, or during the playoffs, any Comcast channel showing an NHL playoff game. A recent controversy arose in 2009 when satellite provider DirecTV
stopped offering Versus following a dispute with Versus owner and competitor Comcast
.
were not allowed to air games, forcing flagship stations, if they wanted to broadcast the Series, to simulcast the network broadcast.
As an example, while Boston Red Sox
radio flagship WHDH
and St. Louis Cardinals
flagship station KMOX both broadcast the 1967 World Series, both stations had to simulcast the NBC Radio Network broadcast along with Boston's WCOP and St. Louis' KSD
, the nominal NBC Radio affiliates in those cities.
This changed after 1980
, fans of the Philadelphia Phillies were angry that they couldn't hear their popular broadcasting team of Harry Kalas
and Richie Ashburn
call their run to the title. Since then, only the flagship station
s of the two participating ballclubs can originate coverage, though their broadcasts are also available on XM Satellite Radio
. XM is required to broadcast the home, away, and both English and Spanish national feeds of the World Series. All other network affiliates of the two clubs must carry the feed from MLB's national partner (currently ESPN Radio), and they may not even be able to do so if they compete with an ESPN Radio affiliate in the same market.
Additionally, radio stations (including flagships) may not include MLB games in the live Internet
streams
of their station programming. MLB itself offers radio feeds as a pay service via the league and team websites. Some stations will simply stream the station's regularly scheduled programming that is being preempted by the game.
The NHL has neither radio blackouts nor national terrestrial coverage. All games are streamed online and home game feeds are broadcast on XM.
.
may only broadcast a game if that game is a road game, or if the game sells out 72 hours or more before the start time for the game. If sold out in less than 72 hours, or is close to being sold out by the deadline, the team can sometimes request a time extension. Furthermore, broadcasters with NFL contracts are required to show their markets' road games, even if the secondary market
s have substantial fanbases for other teams (like in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
, officially a Baltimore Ravens
secondary market, but home to a lot of Pittsburgh Steelers
fans). Sometimes if a game is within a few hundred tickets of selling out, a broadcaster with rights to show the nearly sold out game will buy the remaining tickets (and give them to local charities) so it can broadcast the game. Other teams elect to close off sections of their stadium, but cannot sell these tickets for any game that season if they choose to do so. As a result, if the home team's game is a Sunday day game both networks can air only one game each in that market. (Until 2001, this rule applied whether or not the game was blacked out, however, this was changed because some markets virtually never aired doubleheaders as a result.) Usually, but not always, when each network can show only one game each in a market, the two stations work out between themselves which will show an early game and which will show a late game. This only affects the primary market, and not markets in a 75 miles (120.7 km) radius, which always get a doubleheader each Sunday.
There are two exceptions to the rule. The first is for the Green Bay Packers
, which have two overlapping 75-mile blackout zones—one surrounding the team's stadium
in Green Bay
and another surrounding Milwaukee. The team's radio flagship station
is in Milwaukee, and the Packers played part of their home schedule in Milwaukee from 1953 through 1994. However, this policy has never been implemented in the Packers' case, as they have sold out every home game in Green Bay since 1960 and have a decades-long season-ticket waiting list
(games in Milwaukee also sold out during this period). The second exception is for the Bills Toronto Series
; by a technicality, Rogers Communications (the team's lessee) owns all tickets to those games and resells them to potential fans. Thus, even if the games do not sell out, it is still technically a sellout (since Rogers is said to have bought the tickets) and the games are televised. This rule has come into play for both Toronto Series preseason games.
The NFL blackout is considered to be detrimental to financially struggling teams. For instance, most notably, the Los Angeles Rams were unable to sell-out their home games during their last years in that city (a notable exception being the 1994 game against then-crosstown rivals the Raiders
). So a blackout further robbed the franchise of potential revenue and alienated remaining fans. The Rams relocated to St. Louis before the 1995 season (the Raiders also left LA, going back to their original home in Oakland).
For other games, no station within the 75 miles (120.7 km) radius of an NFL stadium may broadcast a game unless it has an affiliation deal with one of the local teams involved. One instance of the practice of this rule was over Hartford, Connecticut
CBS
affiliate WFSB
trying to air a New England Patriots-New York Giants game for December 29, 2007, which would be carried only on the NFL's cable network NFL Network
that at the time was available only on a sports channel package of Comcast Cable in the immediate viewing areas of the Patriots and Giants.
On December 12, 2007, Broadcasting & Cable
reported that Senator John Kerry
and Rep. Ed Markey
, both of the state of Massachusetts
and fans of the New England Patriots
team, wrote to the NFL as well as Comcast Cable and Time Warner Cable
to request that the Patriots-Giants game be aired at least on basic cable in order to reach the highest possible number of television-viewing fans, as at the time the Patriots were undefeated, and Kerry and Markey viewed the game as "potentially historic", according to John Eggerton of B&C. Kerry clarified the next week that he did not intend to interrupt current negotiations between the cable operators and NFL. On December 19, 2007, representative Joe Courtney
(D
-CT
) and other members of the Connecticut Congressional Delegation wrote to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell
to try to have the NFL allow wider broadcast access to the game. Consequently, on December 26, the NFL approved the game to be simulcast from NFL Network
to both the CBS
and NBC
networks., along with WCVB in the Boston market and WWOR-TV
in the New York City market.
. All other markets must carry the NFL on Westwood One
feed for those games. For all other weeks, within 75 miles of a team's stadium, only stations the team or its flagship station contracts with can carry those games, regardless if the team is home or away. Thus, any competing station that carries Westwood One broadcasts cannot air those games. Like MLB, the NFL makes local broadcasts (except for those of the Tennessee Titans
) available on FieldPass and Sirius Satellite Radio
; as a result, radio stations that carry NFL games, from any source, and stream on the Internet are prohibited from streaming games online, although it seems this provision is loosely enforced in some cases; WBBM
in Chicago regularly airs live broadcasts of Chicago Bears games over their Internet stream.
:
games originating from either a regional sports network (RSN) or a local over–the–air (OTA) station and delivers these games to customers who purchase this subscription. These games are not otherwise available to DIRECTV subscribers because they are broadcast outside of a subscriber's local area. Further, MLS games shown nationally on ESPN
, ESPN2
, TeleFutura
and ABC
are not included as part of this sports subscription.
, the ABC
affiliate in Indianapolis, carries the race tape-delayed in primetime instead. The radio broadcast can still be heard on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network
, and some fringe parts of the market can watch the race via affiliates in Fort Wayne (WPTA
), Terre Haute (WAWV-TV), Dayton, Ohio (WKEF
), and Louisville, Kentucky (WHAS-TV
) . In the early years of the Brickyard 400, that event was also blacked out locally as the track's television contract between IMS and ABC applied for both races. However, that policy ended after 2000 when NASCAR switched to a unified, NASCAR-controlled, television contract.
Broadcasting of sports events
The broadcasting of sports events is the coverage of sports as a television program, on radio and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one or more sports commentators describing the events as they happen.-United States:...
, television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
ming, that is prohibited in a certain media market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
.
The purpose is theoretically to generate more revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....
by obliging certain actions from fans, either by making them buy tickets or watch other games on TV. While financially a logical procedure on the part of those providing the programming, blackouts are frequently unpopular with the affected audience as it will cause some fans to miss the game completely even if they were willing to enter the stadium and pay.
A similar term, known as preemption (or pre-emption), often refers to stations blacking out a program for other than regulatory or governmental reasons, such as when a local station preempts a television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
program for local news (an example of a regular preemption) or a special program (an example of a one-time preemption).
Federal Elections
Perhaps the most notable non-sports-related blackout in television is the blackout of Canadian federal election coverage. Because there are six time zoneTime zone
A time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
s in Canada, polls close in different parts of the country at different times. Section 329 of the Canada Elections Act
Canada Elections Act
Canada Elections Act is an Act of the Parliament of Canada respecting the election of members of parliament to the Canadian House of Commons, repealing other Acts relating to elections and making consequential amendments to other Acts....
outlaws publishing election results from other ridings in constituencies where polls were still open, ostensibly to prevent the results from the East
Eastern Canada
Eastern Canada is generally considered to be the region of Canada east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces:* New Brunswick* Newfoundland and Labrador* Nova Scotia* Ontario* Prince Edward Island* Quebec...
from influencing voters in western ridings
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...
.
However, in the federal election in 2000
Canadian federal election, 2000
The 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect 301 Members of Parliament of the Canadian House of Commons of the 37th Parliament of Canada....
, one Paul Charles Bryan published results from Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
on the Internet despite being told not to by the authorities. Bryan was charged before the Provincial Court of British Columbia
Provincial Court of British Columbia
The Provincial Court of British Columbia is a trial level court in British Columbia that hears cases in criminal, civil and family matters....
, but fought the charges as unconstitutional under section 2
Section Two of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Section Two of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the section of the Constitution of Canada's Charter of Rights that lists what the Charter calls "fundamental freedoms" theoretically applying to everyone in Canada, regardless of whether they are a Canadian citizen, or an individual or...
of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
, which protects freedom of expression and freedom of association
Freedom of association
Freedom of association is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....
. Bryan's victory before the British Columbia Supreme Court meant that voters in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
and the rest of Canada legally learned of election results in other ridings during the federal election in 2004
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
. However, Elections Canada appealed, and Bryan lost his case before the British Columbia Court of Appeal
British Columbia Court of Appeal
The British Columbia Court of Appeal is the highest appellate court in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The BCCA hears appeals from the Supreme Court of British Columbia and a number of boards and tribunals. The BCCA also hears criminal appeals from the Provincial Court of British...
. Bryan further appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
, but in a ruling made on March 15, 2007 (R. v. Bryan
R. v. Bryan
R. v. Bryan 2007 SCC 12 is a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada on freedom of expression and Canadian federal elections. The Court upheld a law that prevented the publicizing of election results from some ridings before the polls closed in others....
), in a 5-4 ruling, the Court ruled that Section 329 of the Canada Elections Act is constitutional and justified under section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
. Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
, who later became prime minister, labelled Elections Canada
Elections Canada
Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process...
"jackasses" and tried to raise money for Bryan. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
also supported Bryan, hoping to "make election night a bigger event that it already is."
Before the 2000 election, Elections Canada moved to reduce the effects of the blackout and the influence of unauthorized knowledge of election results in Western ridings by altering the times that polls close so that polls no longer close at the same local time throughout the country. Polls in Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...
now close at 9 p.m. Atlantic (9:30 in Newfoundland). Polls from Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
to Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
close an hour later (9 p.m. Eastern, 8 p.m. Central and 7 p.m. Mountain) and finally, polls in B.C. close an hour after that (7 p.m. Pacific). Historically, the results of the election are often not decisively known until more than an hour after polls close in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
and Quebec, but are usually known within two hours of these polls closing.
Provincial elections are not subject to blackout restrictions - in those provinces that have two time zones the vast majority of the population lives in one time zone or the other. Election laws in these provinces stipulate that all polls are to close at the same time - this time invariably being 8:00 p.m. (or 9:00 p.m. in Ontario beginning with the 2007 provincial election
Ontario general election, 2007
The Ontario general election of 2007 was held on October 10, 2007 to elect members of the 39th Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, Canada. The Liberals under Dalton McGuinty won the election with a majority government, winning 71 out of a possible 107 seats with 42.2% of the popular...
) in the time zone of the majority.
On August 17, 2011, Elections Canada Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand
Marc Mayrand
Marc Mayrand , is a Chief Electoral Officer of Elections Canada, a position he has held since 2007.Mayrand studied law at the University of Ottawa and the London School of Economics....
suggested to Parliament that the current voting system needs to be improved, the improvements including a repeal on the ban of early election results in areas where polls are still open; this is in light of the expanded use of social media to transmit results outside of radio and television. According to his report, Mayrand says that "the growing use of social media puts in question not only the practical enforceability of the rule, but also its very intelligibility and usefulness in a world where the distinction between private communication and public transmission is quickly eroding. The time has come for Parliament to consider revoking the current rule."
CFL
All Canadian Football LeagueCanadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
games on TSN
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
are subject to local blackouts. For example, Edmonton Eskimos
Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Eskimos are a Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. They currently play in the West Division of the Canadian Football League . Edmonton is currently the third-youngest franchise in the CFL, although there were clubs with the name Edmonton Eskimos as early as 1895...
home games are not broadcast in Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
or the immediate surrounding area to ensure that fans buy tickets. In the case of Saskatchewan Roughriders
Saskatchewan Roughriders
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a Canadian Football League team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. They were founded in 1910. They play their home games at 2940 10th Avenue in Regina, which has been the team's home base for its entire history, even prior to the construction of Mosaic Stadium at Taylor...
home games the blackout zone covers the entire province of Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, largely because that team relies more than the others on province-wide support.
The home team has the option of lifting a blackout for games that sell out. Unlike in the NFL however, the home team is not obliged to lift a blackout in such cases.
NHL
Unlike the policies governing professional football broadcasts, the National Hockey LeagueNational Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
has no blackout policy that is dependent on ticket sales, therefore nationally televised games on the CBC
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
's Hockey Night in Canada
Hockey Night in Canada
Hockey Night in Canada is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the National Hockey League...
and on TSN
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
are never blacked out in any part of the country.
However, regional broadcasts under the authority of individual NHL teams are subject to blackout outside the teams' designated home territories. Sportsnet holds the regional broadcast rights to most of the NHL teams in Canada in a manner similar to the regional sports network
Regional sports network
In the United States of America and Canada, a regional sports network, or RSN, is a cable television station that presents sports programming to a local market. The most important programming on an RSN consists of live broadcasts of professional and college sporting events, as those games generate...
s of the United States, and out-of-market games are, in general, blacked out outside of the region served by the Sportsnet channel carrying the game. Similarly, TSN owns regional broadcast rights to two NHL teams, the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
(English language only) and the Winnipeg Jets
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets were a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They began play in the World Hockey Association in 1972, moving to the National Hockey League in 1979 following the collapse of the WHA...
; both are carried on special digital feeds of the network only carried within their markets.
As an exception, French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
rights to the Canadiens are owned by RDS
Réseau des sports
Réseau des sports , is a Canadian French language Category C specialty channel showing sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc....
, a national French-language sports network also operated by TSN. As its contract is technically a national NHL contract (albeit one negotiated through the Canadiens), that channel is allowed to carry all Canadiens games nationally.
Another exception are Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . They have won four Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926, most recently coming in 2009-10...
games aired on WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
. As WGN is an over-the-air station, Canadian cable and satellite providers are not legally required to black out these telecasts, even when the Blackhawks play a Canadian team. However, providers that carry NHL Centre Ice
NHL Centre Ice
NHL Centre Ice is a Canadian digital cable subscription Out-of-Market Sports Package. It is offered by three national satellite television service providers, Bell TV, TELUS Optik TV, Telus Satellite TV, and Shaw Direct and many digital cable television providers such as Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco and...
may be bound by their agreements with the NHL to perform these blackouts nonetheless.
Major League Baseball
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
and the National Hockey League
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
have very similar blackout rules. Unlike the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
, the blackout of games have nothing to do with attendance, but instead are implemented to protect broadcasters with contracts to air games.
Unless a national broadcaster has exclusive rights to a certain game, the local broadcaster of a game (such as an FSN
Fox Sports Net
The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...
network for example) has priority over a national broadcasterso if ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
or MLB Network
MLB Network
MLB Network is an American television specialty channel dedicated to professional baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball. Comcast, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications have minority ownership of the new network, with MLB retaining a controlling two-thirds share...
is airing a game that is also being aired by the local broadcaster, the national feed would be blacked out in markets where a local broadcaster is also showing coverage. Similar blackouts occur on other networks which telecast nationally, such as WGN, although this would be considered a local broadcast in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
respectively since the network only cover its local team (the game would be blacked out in the opponent's market only). The same restriction was in place when TBS
Braves TBS Baseball
Braves TBS Baseball or Braves Baseball on TBS is a Major League Baseball broadcast on the TBS cable network by Turner Sports, featuring Atlanta Braves regular season games...
televised the Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
, which was a local broadcast in Atlanta.
Fox has exclusive rights to any MLB games starting between 4:00 PM ET and 7:00 PM ET on Saturdays, and ESPN holds exclusive rights to games starting after 8:00 PM ET on Sundays
Sunday Night Baseball
Sunday Night Baseball is the Major League Baseball exclusive game of the week that is televised Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN during the regular season...
. In either case, both broadcasters have exclusivity during their respective time windows. The Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
, Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers (baseball)
The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
, and Florida Marlins
Florida Marlins
The Miami Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1993 as an expansion franchise called the Florida Marlins, the Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Marlins played their home games at...
, who play in open-air stadiums in extremely hot climates (making night games a necessity in the summer months) are often granted waivers so as to allow their local networks to carry the games (unless however the game is shown by a national broadcaster). For FOX, this generally applies to one time-slot per market, since its coverage is not usually a doubleheader. Thus, local television coverage is allowed during the other time-slot, but the game will not air on MLB Extra Innings.
Starting with the new MLB TV contract in 2007, TBS will telecast a Sunday afternoon game-of-the-week, but no nationwide exclusivity is granted to the network, thus the TBS broadcast is blacked out in the market areas of the competing teams. The same contract will grant Fox more flexible start times for broadcasts (Fox moves up games to 3:00 PM ET starts when Saturday night NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Fort Worth, TX
Texas Motor Speedway
Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas....
, Richmond, VA
Richmond International Raceway
Richmond International Raceway is a 3/4-mile , D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series...
, and Florence, SC
Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed the "Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition"...
, all of which start at 7:30 PM ET, to prevent pre-emptions such as the 2008 Phoenix race) may expand the window of exclusivity; also starting in 2011, some games are set for 7:30 PM ET starts, mainly because a late May game has to start there, as Fox has coverage of the UEFA Champions League Final, which kicks off at 8:30 PM CET (2:30 PM ET).
National Hockey League
In the NHL, the policy has changed in recent years. Now, most national cable games are shown throughout the country. Occasionally, the league will grant its cable partner an exclusive window and not schedule any other games involving U.S. teams at that time. For NBC's network coverage in the 2006–2007 season, only games it televised could air during its window, airing different games by region. The coverage was changed in the 2007–2008 season to a Game of the Week format.If a regional sports network
Regional sports network
In the United States of America and Canada, a regional sports network, or RSN, is a cable television station that presents sports programming to a local market. The most important programming on an RSN consists of live broadcasts of professional and college sporting events, as those games generate...
owns the rights to two NHL teams that are competing in the same game, the NHL will allow the channel to use SAP to carry commentary from both teams throughout both teams' coverage areas on the same channel. This most commonly happens with MSG Network
MSG Network
The MSG Network, now shortened to simply MSG, is a regional cable television and radio network serving the Mid-Atlantic United States. It is focused on New York City sports teams...
, which owns the broadcast rights to four NHL teams from fairly disparate areas: New Jersey's New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, Long Island's New York Islanders
New York Islanders
The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, New York City's New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
, and Buffalo's Buffalo Sabres
Buffalo Sabres
The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
(although the Sabres control the entire production of their broadcast through the Sabres Hockey Network
Sabres Hockey Network
The Sabres Hockey Network is the official radio and television broadcast network of the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. The network is currently operated jointly by the Sabres and by Entercom Communications....
, while MSG produces the other three broadcasts). For instance, though MSG will only produce one pregame and postgame show for a game between the Islanders and Sabres, they will carry the Sabres Hockey Network on the main audio feed in upstate New York and the Islanders' commentators on SAP; however, in New York City and Long Island, viewers hear the Islanders broadcasters on the main feed and the Sabres commentators on SAP.
Additionally in the NHL, local and regional networks are not granted broadcasts rights for national televised games by Comcast's NBC broadcast network or cable NBC Sports Network, or during the playoffs, any Comcast channel showing an NHL playoff game. A recent controversy arose in 2009 when satellite provider DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
stopped offering Versus following a dispute with Versus owner and competitor Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
.
Radio blackouts
In MLB there are no radio blackouts. However, for many years, the radio networks of the two participating ballclubs in the World SeriesWorld Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
were not allowed to air games, forcing flagship stations, if they wanted to broadcast the Series, to simulcast the network broadcast.
As an example, while Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
radio flagship WHDH
WEEI
WEEI is a sports radio station in Boston, Massachusetts, that broadcasts on 850 kHz from a transmitter in Needham, Massachusetts, and is owned by Entercom Communications. The station is one of the top-rated sports talk radio stations in the nation. Studios are located in Brighton, Massachusetts...
and St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
flagship station KMOX both broadcast the 1967 World Series, both stations had to simulcast the NBC Radio Network broadcast along with Boston's WCOP and St. Louis' KSD
KTRS
KTRS may refer to:* KTRS , a radio station licensed to St. Louis, Missouri, United States* KTRS-FM, a radio station licensed to Casper, Wyoming, United States...
, the nominal NBC Radio affiliates in those cities.
This changed after 1980
1980 World Series
-Game 1:Tuesday, October 14, 1980 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaThe Royals jumped on Philly rookie starter Bob Walk early with a pair of two run bombs—one by Amos Otis in the second and another by Willie Aikens in the third...
, fans of the Philadelphia Phillies were angry that they couldn't hear their popular broadcasting team of Harry Kalas
Harry Kalas
Harry Norbert Kalas was an American sportscaster, best known for his Ford C. Frick Award-winning role as lead play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies...
and Richie Ashburn
Richie Ashburn
Don Richard "Richie" Ashburn , also known by the nicknames, "Putt-Putt", "The Tilden Flash", and "Whitey" due to his light-blond hair, was an American center fielder in Major League Baseball. He was born in Tilden, Nebraska...
call their run to the title. Since then, only the flagship station
Flagship station
In broadcasting, a flagship is the broadcast which originates a television network, or a particular radio show or TV show, primarily in the United States and Canada. This includes both direct network feeds and broadcast syndication, but generally not backhauls...
s of the two participating ballclubs can originate coverage, though their broadcasts are also available on XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
. XM is required to broadcast the home, away, and both English and Spanish national feeds of the World Series. All other network affiliates of the two clubs must carry the feed from MLB's national partner (currently ESPN Radio), and they may not even be able to do so if they compete with an ESPN Radio affiliate in the same market.
Additionally, radio stations (including flagships) may not include MLB games in the live Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
streams
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
of their station programming. MLB itself offers radio feeds as a pay service via the league and team websites. Some stations will simply stream the station's regularly scheduled programming that is being preempted by the game.
The NHL has neither radio blackouts nor national terrestrial coverage. All games are streamed online and home game feeds are broadcast on XM.
NBA blackout policy
The NBA and the WNBA used to black out nationally televised games on cable TV within 35 miles (56.3 km) of the home team's market; however, these are now restricted to games on NBA TVNBA TV
NBA TV is a television specialty channel that is dedicated to showcasing the sport of basketball in the United States. The network is financially backed by the National Basketball Association , which also uses NBA TV as a way of advertising their out of market package NBA League Pass, and partner...
.
NFL blackout policy
In the NFL, any broadcaster that has a signal that hits any area within a 75 miles (120.7 km) radius of an NFL stadiumStadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
may only broadcast a game if that game is a road game, or if the game sells out 72 hours or more before the start time for the game. If sold out in less than 72 hours, or is close to being sold out by the deadline, the team can sometimes request a time extension. Furthermore, broadcasters with NFL contracts are required to show their markets' road games, even if the secondary market
Secondary market
The page applies to the finanical term; For the merchandising concept, see Aftermarket .The secondary market, also called aftermarket, is the financial market where previously issued securities and financial instruments such as stock, bonds, options, and futures are bought and sold....
s have substantial fanbases for other teams (like in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
, officially a Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
secondary market, but home to a lot of Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
fans). Sometimes if a game is within a few hundred tickets of selling out, a broadcaster with rights to show the nearly sold out game will buy the remaining tickets (and give them to local charities) so it can broadcast the game. Other teams elect to close off sections of their stadium, but cannot sell these tickets for any game that season if they choose to do so. As a result, if the home team's game is a Sunday day game both networks can air only one game each in that market. (Until 2001, this rule applied whether or not the game was blacked out, however, this was changed because some markets virtually never aired doubleheaders as a result.) Usually, but not always, when each network can show only one game each in a market, the two stations work out between themselves which will show an early game and which will show a late game. This only affects the primary market, and not markets in a 75 miles (120.7 km) radius, which always get a doubleheader each Sunday.
There are two exceptions to the rule. The first is for the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
, which have two overlapping 75-mile blackout zones—one surrounding the team's stadium
Lambeau Field
Lambeau Field is an outdoor football stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the home of the NFL's Green Bay Packers. Opened in 1957 as City Stadium, it replaced the original City Stadium as the Packers' home field...
in Green Bay
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
and another surrounding Milwaukee. The team's radio flagship station
WTMJ (AM)
WTMJ is a radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin broadcasting at 620 AM. It is a 50,000-watt station airing a format of news, talk and sports. WTMJ is owned by Journal Broadcast Group, which also owns the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and sister station WLWK-FM....
is in Milwaukee, and the Packers played part of their home schedule in Milwaukee from 1953 through 1994. However, this policy has never been implemented in the Packers' case, as they have sold out every home game in Green Bay since 1960 and have a decades-long season-ticket waiting list
NFL season ticket waiting lists
The National Football League has enjoyed success in selling out many of their venues from season ticket sales alone. Out of 32 teams in the league, 24 claim to have waiting lists from under 1,000 people to over 150,000. For some fans, this means a wait not just of years, but decades...
(games in Milwaukee also sold out during this period). The second exception is for the Bills Toronto Series
Bills Toronto Series
The Bills Toronto Series is a five-year deal consisting of a series of National Football League games featuring the Buffalo Bills played at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The series began in the 2008 NFL season and will end during the 2012 NFL season...
; by a technicality, Rogers Communications (the team's lessee) owns all tickets to those games and resells them to potential fans. Thus, even if the games do not sell out, it is still technically a sellout (since Rogers is said to have bought the tickets) and the games are televised. This rule has come into play for both Toronto Series preseason games.
The NFL blackout is considered to be detrimental to financially struggling teams. For instance, most notably, the Los Angeles Rams were unable to sell-out their home games during their last years in that city (a notable exception being the 1994 game against then-crosstown rivals the Raiders
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
). So a blackout further robbed the franchise of potential revenue and alienated remaining fans. The Rams relocated to St. Louis before the 1995 season (the Raiders also left LA, going back to their original home in Oakland).
For other games, no station within the 75 miles (120.7 km) radius of an NFL stadium may broadcast a game unless it has an affiliation deal with one of the local teams involved. One instance of the practice of this rule was over Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate WFSB
WFSB
'WFSB, channel 3, is a CBS-affiliated television station located in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, owned by the Meredith Corporation. WFSB's studios and offices are located in Rocky Hill, Connecticut, and its broadcast transmitter is based on Talcott Mountain in Avon, Connecticut. Syndicated...
trying to air a New England Patriots-New York Giants game for December 29, 2007, which would be carried only on the NFL's cable network NFL Network
NFL Network
NFL Network is an American television specialty channel owned and operated by the National Football League . It was launched November 4, 2003, only eight months after the league's 32 team owners voted unanimously to approve its formation...
that at the time was available only on a sports channel package of Comcast Cable in the immediate viewing areas of the Patriots and Giants.
On December 12, 2007, Broadcasting & Cable
Broadcasting & Cable
Broadcasting & Cable magazine is a television industry trade magazine published by NewBay Media. Previous names included Broadcasting/Telecasting, Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising, and Broadcasting...
reported that Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
and Rep. Ed Markey
Ed Markey
Edward John "Ed" Markey is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1976. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes most of Boston's northern and western suburbs, such as Medford and Framingham. Markey is the Dean of both the Massachusetts and New England House delegations...
, both of the state of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
and fans of the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
team, wrote to the NFL as well as Comcast Cable and Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
to request that the Patriots-Giants game be aired at least on basic cable in order to reach the highest possible number of television-viewing fans, as at the time the Patriots were undefeated, and Kerry and Markey viewed the game as "potentially historic", according to John Eggerton of B&C. Kerry clarified the next week that he did not intend to interrupt current negotiations between the cable operators and NFL. On December 19, 2007, representative Joe Courtney
Joe Courtney (politician)
Joseph Courtney is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life, education and career:Courtney grew up in suburban Hartford and became a 1975 graduate of Tufts University...
(D
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
-CT
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
) and other members of the Connecticut Congressional Delegation wrote to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell
Roger Goodell
Roger S. Goodell is the Commissioner of the National Football League , having been chosen to succeed the retiring Paul Tagliabue on August 8, 2006. He was chosen over four finalists for the position, winning a close vote on the fifth ballot before being unanimously approved by acclamation of the...
to try to have the NFL allow wider broadcast access to the game. Consequently, on December 26, the NFL approved the game to be simulcast from NFL Network
NFL Network
NFL Network is an American television specialty channel owned and operated by the National Football League . It was launched November 4, 2003, only eight months after the league's 32 team owners voted unanimously to approve its formation...
to both the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
networks., along with WCVB in the Boston market and WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
in the New York City market.
Radio broadcasts
For radio broadcasts, the NFL follows a nearly identical policy to MLB. There are no radio blackouts, but only each team's flagship station can carry local broadcasts during the conference championships or Super BowlSuper Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
. All other markets must carry the NFL on Westwood One
NFL on Westwood One
The NFL on Westwood One is the brand name given to weekly National Football League games carried on the radio over the Dial Global Radio Network...
feed for those games. For all other weeks, within 75 miles of a team's stadium, only stations the team or its flagship station contracts with can carry those games, regardless if the team is home or away. Thus, any competing station that carries Westwood One broadcasts cannot air those games. Like MLB, the NFL makes local broadcasts (except for those of the Tennessee Titans
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...
) available on FieldPass and Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio is a satellite radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Radio.Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially launched on July 1, 2002 and currently provides 69 streams of music and 65 streams of...
; as a result, radio stations that carry NFL games, from any source, and stream on the Internet are prohibited from streaming games online, although it seems this provision is loosely enforced in some cases; WBBM
WBBM (AM)
WBBM is an all-news CBS radio station in Chicago, Illinois broadcasting on the AM dial at 780 kHz. It is owned by CBS along with WBBM-TV....
in Chicago regularly airs live broadcasts of Chicago Bears games over their Internet stream.
MLS
Major League Soccer applies local blackout rights for the broadcasts of the following teams as a part of MLS Direct KickMLS Direct Kick
MLS Direct Kick is an Out-of-Market Sports Package distributed by most cable and satellite providers in North America. As of the 2011 season, package subscribers will be able to watch up to 221 Major League Soccer regular season games as well as some MLS Cup playoff matches. The package costs $79...
:
- Chivas USA
- Colorado RapidsColorado RapidsThe Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, Colorado which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league...
- D.C. UnitedD.C. UnitedD.C. United is an American professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having competed in the league since its inception, in 1996.Over the...
- Los Angeles GalaxyLos Angeles GalaxyThe Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional soccer team, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, and the league's second...
- New England RevolutionNew England RevolutionThe New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...
- New York Red Bulls
Game availability
MLS DIRECT KICK contains MLSMajor League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
games originating from either a regional sports network (RSN) or a local over–the–air (OTA) station and delivers these games to customers who purchase this subscription. These games are not otherwise available to DIRECTV subscribers because they are broadcast outside of a subscriber's local area. Further, MLS games shown nationally on ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
, ESPN2
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American sports cable television network owned by ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross,...
, TeleFutura
TeleFutura
TeleFutura is a U.S. Spanish-language broadcast television network owned by Univision with headquarters in Miami, Florida.-Overview:TeleFutura Is America’s #2 Spanish-Language Network in prime time...
and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
are not included as part of this sports subscription.
Indianapolis 500
The Indy 500 is blacked out in the Indianapolis area on television, except in 1999 (which was broadcast Live and tape-delayed), in order to encourage race attendance, thus WRTVWRTV
WRTV, channel 6, is the ABC television affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana; it is owned by McGraw-Hill. Its transmitter is located on the northwest side of Indianapolis at 8001 Township Line Road. Its studios are found at 1330 N...
, the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate in Indianapolis, carries the race tape-delayed in primetime instead. The radio broadcast can still be heard on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network , is an in-house radio syndication arrangement which broadcasts the Indianapolis 500, IndyCar, and the Brickyard 400 to radio stations covering most of North America....
, and some fringe parts of the market can watch the race via affiliates in Fort Wayne (WPTA
WPTA
WPTA is the ABC-affiliated television station for Northeastern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road. The station can also be seen on Comcast and Frontier FiOS channel 7...
), Terre Haute (WAWV-TV), Dayton, Ohio (WKEF
WKEF
WKEF, virtual channel 22, is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Miami Valley area of Ohio, which is licensed to Dayton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 51 from a transmitter at their Broadcast Plaza studios near the New Chicago section of the city...
), and Louisville, Kentucky (WHAS-TV
WHAS-TV
WHAS-TV channel 11 is the ABC affiliated television station in Louisville, Kentucky. Owned by Belo Corporation, the station's transmitter is located in Floyd County, Indiana, near the community of Floyds Knobs...
) . In the early years of the Brickyard 400, that event was also blacked out locally as the track's television contract between IMS and ABC applied for both races. However, that policy ended after 2000 when NASCAR switched to a unified, NASCAR-controlled, television contract.