Does NFL still enforce "blackout" rules?

[WSAImpact]

This past Sunday the Browns were at home. The game was on CBS and I couldn't get the game because I lost the channel.
The local Fox station waited until 4PM to air a game. Under the traditional policy this would have been the norm, but this station has carried a game opposite two other home contests. It has even declined to air a game opposite the Browns when they played on the road.
I left a message with the program director and didn't get a response. Have others noticed inconsistency with the policy?

 

[cjb5656]

This past Sunday the Browns were at home. The game was on CBS and I couldn't get the game because I lost the channel.
The local Fox station waited until 4PM to air a game. Under the traditional policy this would have been the norm, but this station has carried a game opposite two other home contests. It has even declined to air a game opposite the Browns when they played on the road.
I left a message with the program director and didn't get a response. Have others noticed inconsistency with the policy?

Blackouts, I believe, are at the discretion of the home team. Most seem to choose to air the home games locally whether the sell out or not these days, but I believe the Tampa Bay owners chose to enforce the home blackout at one of their recent home games.

 

[Auggie]

Modell was the worst, dude never lifted a black out, he wanted to sell those beyond lousy seats behind Homeplate that were 20 yards from the end zone at basically field level so you could not see a thing. When it got to just a couple thousand the local affiliate that was airing the game would buy them up so they could get the local ad revenue.

 

[soccerdad72]

Modell was the worst, dude never lifted a black out, he wanted to sell those beyond lousy seats behind Homeplate that were 20 yards from the end zone at basically field level so you could not see a thing. When it got to just a couple thousand the local affiliate that was airing the game would buy them up so they could get the local ad revenue.

I remember being in college when the Bills were on their stretch of four straight Super Bowl losses. By the time they got to their third or fourth conference championship game, they hadn't sold it out, so I remember my dad worrying that he wasn't going to be able to see the game (in Erie, which falls inside Buffalo's blackout radius) because of the blackout. From what I recall, one of the local grocery stores in Buffalo (Tops or Wegman's) bought up the remainder of the tickets and gave them away to employees so the game would be on TV.

 

[Sykotyk]

This past Sunday the Browns were at home. The game was on CBS and I couldn't get the game because I lost the channel.
The local Fox station waited until 4PM to air a game. Under the traditional policy this would have been the norm, but this station has carried a game opposite two other home contests. It has even declined to air a game opposite the Browns when they played on the road.
I left a message with the program director and didn't get a response. Have others noticed inconsistency with the policy?

What station were you not getting? Ohio was split between Browns and Bengals that afternoon. Fox had a single game that day. You either got the early game on Fox or the afternoon game. CBS had an afternoon game as it was their week to have a doubleheader.

Most market rules are that the local team, when available, will not have a game on the other network opposite their game. If a local channel didn't air the game, that would be newsworthy. Are you sure your cable/satellite provider did it and not the local channel?

 

[WSAImpact]

I haven't been able to get the CBS station for weeks. I don't have cable and sometimes my TV will lose a station so I have to reprogram it. And with my luck the Fox station will opt for the late game between the Steelers and Seahawks this week.
In order we prefer NBC, Fox, and ABC.

 

[Sykotyk]

I haven't been able to get the CBS station for weeks. I don't have cable and sometimes my TV will lose a station so I have to reprogram it. And with my luck the Fox station will opt for the late game between the Steelers and Seahawks this week.
In order we prefer NBC, Fox, and ABC.

That's just weak signal from the station of your antenna isn't good enough or positioned right to get it.

 

[Smarty2022]

This past Sunday the Browns were at home. The game was on CBS and I couldn't get the game because I lost the channel.
The local Fox station waited until 4PM to air a game. Under the traditional policy this would have been the norm, but this station has carried a game opposite two other home contests. It has even declined to air a game opposite the Browns when they played on the road.
I left a message with the program director and didn't get a response. Have others noticed inconsistency with the policy?

I thought the NFL Changed the Blackout Rule Percentage a few yrs back. Thought if a Team sold 75-80% of their Tickets there would not be Any Blackouts anymore Locally. Possibly this is the Rule but along with Owner discretion if Ticket Sales are low?

 

[Sykotyk]

I thought the NFL Changed the Blackout Rule Percentage a few yrs back. Thought if a Team sold 75-80% of their Tickets there would not be Any Blackouts anymore Locally. Possibly this is the Rule but along with Owner discretion if Ticket Sales are low?

Owners can lift the blackout rule, I believe. But it's still in effect otherwise. Some markets still don't want home games shown while seats are available.