https://twitter.com/bloombergtv/status/413389836067037185 This could be huge, instead of having to pay Comcast or Charter, you could just get the games on LP.
LP probably costs $500+ in that case. The Lakers are getting what $5 billion on their local TV contract? They will find a way to get paid by viewers
What this could do is even the playing field for markets. If the LP pie is high, that money goes to all teams equally. So if more subscribe to league pass, more money is evenly distributed.
I'm not sure how huge of news this really is. I posted an article in the OT section awhile back where John McCain and another Senator were co-sponsoring a bill to end black outs in regions that have no TV provider available at all. Meaning that if you had access to your teams games through any TV provider you'd still have to buy that to get games. I think the bill was intended to help people who have no local provider carrying the games at all and were still blocked from streaming services like LP. I guess I'm waiting to see what it is exactly that is being proposed here. I hope LP is completely unblocked soon, I'd be first in line to buy an HD stream of the Blazers and Timbers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/12/18/fcc-moves-to-end-sports-blackouts/ The Federal Communications Commission is proposing to eliminate sports blackouts, according to a just-released document. Televised sporting events can be blacked out in a given market if the event is not available on a local station. When the rule was written, the idea was that having the game on TV could hurt ticket sales. In its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC says the law might be outdated -- especially given the financial success of the major sports leagues -- and asks if it has the authority to change the rules without Congress's approval. "The sports industry has changed dramatically in the last 40 years ... and the Petitioners argue that the economic rationale underlying the sports blackout rules may no longer be valid," the FCC says. Separately, a group of senators has been pushing to eliminate antitrust protection for sports leagues who include extensive blackout provisions in their contracts. The NFL is the league most affected by the blackout rule, given that all of its games are broadcast by nationwide TV stations and not local ones. In markets where ticket sales struggle, businesses or wealthy individuals might step in at the last moment and buy enough tickets to keep the games on TV. The proposed rule change would not prevent teams from negotiating blackout rules with cable and satellite operators.
