Confident as they are that their advertiser-driven television model will hold up to the threat of en masse commercial-skipping, sports properties say they are troubled by another aspect of DVR technology: the likelihood that fans will use it to transmit games.
The Federal Communications Commission recently granted TiVo permission to market a DVR that allows viewers to use the Internet to send copies of shows to as many as nine people.
The NFL joined movie studios in opposition to TiVo’s request. The league says it fears the device could be used to circumvent its long-standing blackout policy, which prohibits the airing of a game in a market unless all tickets are sold.
The NFL envisions fans outside of a market receiving games, recording them and then sending them via broadband into cities in which they’re supposed to be blacked out. TiVo executives say they will use encryption to keep that from happening.
“We’re moving forward aggressively with technology, but there are times when we feel we have to put a halt to some of it,” said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. “This is technology that could disrupt our policy [of blackouts]. Without restraint, it could threaten our model.”
Retransmission of games in near real time poses the greatest threat to Major League Baseball, which earlier this month unveiled a download service that allows fans to buy full-game telecasts that they can burn as DVDs or CDs for $3.95 each.
“It will be a concern to us if people are able to carry games out of market via a distribution system of their own,” said Tim Brosnan, executive vice president of business for Major League Baseball. “We have a very aggressive [pay television] package and a streaming package on mlb.com. We want people to be able to view baseball games any time, anywhere — but with certain commercial constraints.”
