The FCC’s sports blackout rule is “obsolete,” said Rep....
The FCC’s sports blackout rule is “obsolete,” said Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y. The FCC will “vote finally at the end of this year” on the issue, but the National Football League has the final say, Higgins said on an episode…
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of C-SPAN’s The Communicators slated for telecast Saturday. He was one of three House lawmakers pressing for changes to communications law in separate interviews. Congress has “leverage,” however, with Higgins’ legislation (HR-3452) removing the NFL’s antitrust exemption for blackouts. “The economics all point to the elimination of the blackout rule,” Higgins said. Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, criticized the set-top box integration ban and said he hopes the Senate includes a provision repealing it in its version of legislation reauthorizing the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, as the House did in July. He also slammed the possibility of Title II reclassification of broadband: “All of a sudden innovation’s going to slow up,” Latta mused of the scenario. “We don’t want that to happen.” Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., made the case for less regulation in various instances, such as in the video space and at the FCC. He emphasized that traditional TV service is different from watching a Netflix movie on a phone. “The FCC will ultimately have to side with the consumers who do not want regulation of the Internet,” Gardner said of net neutrality. The proposed overhaul of the Communications Act “needs to be done,” Gardner added, stressing a focus on less regulation.