This Week in Tech: Lights out for sports blackout rule?

The Federal Communications Commission is poised to turn out the lights on the sports blackout rule over the vocal opposition of the National Football League (NFL).

The contested rule, which forces cable and satellite companies to black out any games that are also blacked out on local broadcast TV, is up for a vote on Tuesday — and seems destined to get sacked.

Commissioners from both parties have criticized the rule as out of date and bad for fans.

{mosads}That criticism has been echoed on Capitol Hill, where Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have cheered the FCC’s attempts to end it.

The NFL has mounted a robust lobbying campaign to preserve the rule, however, arguing it is necessary to keep football games on free broadcast TV. Without the rule, the league says it could have to put more games on cable and satellite channels, which it says could make it harder for some people to watch their favorite team on Sunday.

More than a dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus have sided with the NFL, warning that the FCC’s decision to kill the rule could end up hurting fans if the league moves its games away from free broadcast television.

The blackout rule dates back to 1975, when teams were concerned that people would stay home and watch games on TV, causing lower ticket sales at the gate. The NFL requires local broadcast stations like CBS and Fox to black out games that don’t sell out ahead of time. The FCC rules require that those blackouts be extended to people tuning in through their cable or satellite subscription.

The blackouts have been rare in recent years — last year, just two professional football games were blacked out.

Even if FCC does overturn its rule, the NFL and other leagues could still make deals with cable and satellite companies to black out some games. Critics of the rule, however, say it isn’t the government’s place to force the companies to shut out fans.

In addition to the blackout rule, the FCC will also vote on a measure to give wireless microphones more room on the nation’s airwaves and a ruling on broadcast television coverage areas ahead of next year’s spectrum auction, among other things.

October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and Washington will start off the month with a pair of Wednesday events.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) gives remarks on “a cyber strategy for national security” at a Wednesday morning summit hosted by TheWashington Post. The head of the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arati Prabhakar, is also scheduled to speak, as are other cyber experts from across the federal government and private sector.

In the afternoon, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D) gives the keynote at an Information Technology Industry Council summit on cybersecurity. The event is being co-hosted by the King & Spalding law firm and will also feature officials from the White House and Commerce Department.

On Monday, FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel will talk about spectrum at a forum hosted by Mobile Future.

Rosenworcel will also speak on Tuesday afternoon at a Georgetown University event on “regulating the digital economy.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) takes the stage at a data transparency summit on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Heritage Foundation is holding “an introduction to bitcoin and its regulatory environment.”

On Thursday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) gives closing remarks at an event on technology of the future at the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute.

Top officials from AT&T and the Center for Democracy and Technology will join academics and lawyers on Friday to discuss the legal avenues for the FCC’s rules on net neutrality. The trade group USTelecom is hosting the event.