The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which lobbies for over-the-air broadcasters, often butts heads with cable and satellite broadcasters.
Now, the NAB is protesting ESPN’s deal to move the Bowl Championship Series to cable from 2011 to 2014. The Washington Post reports:
The National Association of Broadcasters said ESPN’s $500 million deal to carry the Bowl Championship Series on subscription-based television channels from 2011 through 2014 would leave out about 20 million television viewers who rely on free over-the-air television.
As a result, the group said it will ramp up lobbying efforts with advocacy groups for the elderly, consumers and immigrants to educate members of Congress about how such deals could affect some viewers.
“The question is whether college presidents and athletic directors at publicly funded institutions should be complicit in disenfranchising 20 percent of citizenry from access to the most popular college football games,” NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said.
This is exactly the kind of debate that might touch off new conversations over the idea that cable subscribers should be able to pick and choose what channels they want to pay for instead of being given packages with a bunch of fluff they don’t want.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin tells the Post: “This is part of an overall trend we’ve seen of sports programming moving from broadcast to pay services. I’m concerned about that for viewers. I’m particularly concerned about it today because we’re seeing every year increasing prices of cable services.”
By the way, did you hear that Fox News is providing live, 3-D coverage of the BCS National Championships game in theaters?
