[Husker] TV Blackouts and Such

[Gary Fead]

Good Evening:

There seems to be some confusion about why there are blackouts on TV games involving NU etc., so I'm going to try to explain the reason for you now.

First lets start with the pro sports teams from the NHL, NBA and MLB. Each of these leagues determines the TV market for each of their teams. This is done by zip code in the case of DirecTV and Echostar (Dish Network). Here in Omaha (as well as Lincoln) we considered to be in the TV market for the following teams: Colorado Avalanche (NHL), Denver Nuggets (NBA) and Kansas City Royals if you receive your TV via satellite (COX Cable Customers receive MN Timberwolves basketball games since COX does not carry Altitude, and I'm not sure what they get for hockey if anything).

Folks living in the western part of Nebraska get the Av's, Nugget's and Colorado Rockies games. In some very limited areas there are multiple teams available via satellite. Nonetheless you only receive the broadcasts of those teams that are considered in market for your area. 

Now college basketball is a little different, in the case of the Big XII the rules are as follows: ESPN/ABC gets first pick of all games involving Big XII schools, CBS gets a few bones (but very few), ESPN Regional (aka Big 12 Network) has rights to all remaining games that are not picked by the previous entities. 

Once ABC/ESPN, CBS and ESPN Regional take the game inventory they want the schools are "free" to negotiate whatever deal (also known as a third tier deal) they want, to televise the game either on a local TV station (i.e. KOLN in Lincoln) or a regional sports network (i.e. FSN Midwest) but those telecasts may not extend outside of the borders of their state. 

For example the Nebraska/Colorado men's game last week was not part of the Nebraska third tier TV contract but was part of the Colorado third tier TV contract they have with FSN Rocky Mountain, hence the game could only be shown live inside the state of Colorado. The same rule applied to the Nebraska/Colorado women's game yesterday. It was a deal negotiated between Colorado and FSN Rocky Mountain with limited distribution to residents of the state of Colorado only.

NU has a few "third tier" games coming up in Big XII play including the games at Kansas State (2/17), at Iowa State (2/24) and Colorado in Lincoln on March 2nd. The Nebraska broadcast of these games will be available to Nebraska zip codes only and may not be shown outside of the state of Nebraska unless the opponent is also televising the game as part of a third tier contract with one of their broadcast partners. 

Hopefully this helps explain the blackout rules. 

Gary Fead
Omaha