Blackout (broadcasting)
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- For blackouts of syndicated programming, please see "syndication exclusivity".
In broadcasting, a blackout is when certain programming, usually sports, cannot be televised in a certain media market. The purpose is theoretically to generate more money by obligating 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, is a highly unpopular practice in the opinion of most viewers in the home audience.
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[edit] United States
[edit] MLB/NHL blackout policies
Major League Baseball 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. Games are blacked out based on two criteria.
- Local broadcast and cable stations which contract with a team to show their games in the local market have priority to televise those games over national broadcasters (assuming that the national broadcaster does not have exclusive rights to the game, as discussed below.) If ESPN telecasts a game, and the game was scheduled to be telecast by the local rights holder, the game will be blacked out on ESPN in that market (usually replaced by ESPNEWS.) Similar blackouts occur on other networks which telecast nationally, such as TBS and WGN, although these would be considered local broadcasts in Atlanta and Chicago respectively since the networks only cover their local team (the national superstation feed would be blacked out, but not the local broadcast feed.)
- The Fox network has exclusive nationwide rights for MLB games on Saturdays between 1:00 PM ET and 6:00 PM ET and ESPN has the same rights for games on Sunday after 8:00 PM ET. Games beginning in these periods of exclusivity can only be telecast by the network holding the exclusive national rights (although games that run long, such as extra inning games that run past 7 PM ET on Sundays, are not cut off.) Starting with the new MLB TV contract in 2007, TBS will telecast a Sunday afternoon game-of-the-week, but no such nationwide exclusivity is granted to the network. The same contract will grant Fox more flexible start times for broadcasts and may expand the window of exclusivity.
In the NHL, the policy is the same; games involving local teams are blacked out if a national broadcaster wants to be protected from people watching their favorite team so that they can get better ratings showing out of market games. In MLB there are no radio blackouts, although ESPN Radio has exclusive rights to the World Series and only the flagship stations of the two participating ballclubs can originate coverage; all network affiliates of the two clubs must carry the ESPN Radio feed, and the two flagships must broadcast ESPN Radio commercials.
[edit] NFL blackout policy
- See also: NFL_on_television#Blackout_policies
In the NFL, any broadcaster that has a signal that hits any area within a 75-mile (120 km) radius of an NFL stadium may only broadcast a game if that game is a road game, or if the game completely 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 request a time extension. The broadcaster is also not permitted to show a game even if it is a sold out home game in markets where there are two teams if one of the teams did not sell out their seats. Futhermore, broadcasters with NFL contracts are required to show their markets' road games. These requirements based on attendance mean that as a general rule, fans of teams with winning records will get to see all of their teams games on television, while fans of sub-.500 teams will only see the road games on television. Sometimes if a game is very close to selling out, but not quite there, 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. If blacked out, the broadcaster will air other programming, usually an alternate football game, instead. If it is a cable channel, like ESPN, the channel's signal will be blocked from the area. Fans can still hear the game on the radio, or get updates on the internet.
In a similar rule, to gather more ratings for a home team's game, the channels that do not have the rights to the home team's game cannot show another game at the same time, even if the home team's game is blacked out. As a result, if the home team's game is a Sunday day game that is on the network that does not have a doubleheader that day, the network that does have a doubleheader can show only one game. In addition, if the local team's game is scheduled to be on the network with the doubleheader that day but the game is blacked out, that network can air only one game that day. (Until 2001, this rule applied whether or not the game was blacked out.) 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 mile radius, which always get a doubleheader each Sunday.
The NFL has aggressively enforced this blackout policy, to the extent of pursuing legal action against sports bars that have used antennas to pull in distant television signals in order to show games for their home market's team that would otherwise be blacked-out.
[edit] Boxing blackout policy
In boxing, a policy very similar to the NFL exists, as the event cannot be shown by any broadcaster that has a signal that hits any area within 75 miles (120 km) of the event.
