A congressman from the Hudson Valley and a senator from Connecticut have joined forces to try to help subscribers to cable and satellite TV services. Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan of New York’s Hudson Valley and Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut have introduced their “Stop Sports Blackouts Act” in both the House and Senate. It’s too early to know how the legislation will make out on Republican-controlled Capitol Hill.
The legislation would make cable companies issue refunds to customers who aren’t able to watch the channels for which they already pay during television blackouts. The legislation comes against the background of the dispute between the Optimum cable system and MSG Network resulting in more than one million customers in the Tri-State area being unable to watch the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, and Devils. A separate dispute between Optimum and program supplier Nexstar left Optimum customers unable to watch programs including TV station WPIX Channel 11 for more than 10 days.
Ryan noted that tens of millions of Americans per year are victim to blackouts with no requirement that they receive compensation.
“It’s outrageous that millions of folks couldn’t watch the Knicks, Judy Justice, or dozens of other programs for weeks because of blackouts. And it’s even more ridiculous that we’re all still paying for the right to stare at black screens. I don’t see why this is even a debate. Cable companies simply should not be able to advertise and charge for services they are not providing,” Ryan said. “We’re putting down a marker: everyone will get their money back when a blackout stops them from watching TV, no questions asked. That means dollars back in your pockets, and, equally importantly, it provides a hell of an incentive to these billion dollar corporations to make sure these blackouts don’t happen in the future.”
According to Murphy, “Blackouts are a slap in the face to every customer paying their hard-earned money for TV shows they can’t even watch. It’s ridiculous the rest of us get stuck in the crossfire of negotiations between cable and broadcast companies. Our bill is simple: if cable companies can’t provide the service you’re paying for, they owe you a refund.”
This type of TV blackout occurs when distributors, including cable and satellite TV companies are unable to reach an agreement with program providers over the rights to distribute their content. Sometimes the negotiations become so contentious that the service provider blacks out the programming. Until an agreement is reached, subscribers are unable to view the content they had paid for as part of their cable or satellite package. From 2010-2024, New Yorkers experienced a total of 100 blackouts for a total of 3,350 days when consumers were blocked from viewing content for which they had paid.
Under the legislation, the federal government would require cable TV and satellite TV operators to give rebates to customers for program services that are not provided.
