The NFL is pulling the plug on big Super Bowl parties—complete with halftime prayers—that have become a popular tradition at many churches, saying the churches violate copyright law by showing the game to the flock on large-screen TVs.Current law bans public exhibitions of the game on screens larger than 55 inches.
"Doesn't the NFL have enough money already?" one disgruntled pastor quipped to the Washington Post.
• Though churches charge no admission for their parties—some of which draw hundreds of fans—the NFL argues that gatherings around big screens outside of homes shrinks TV ratings, which hurts advertising revenues.
Only sports bars are exempt from the 55-inch rule. Some churches are changing the name of their parties to evade NFL scrutiny; a civil liberties group is threatening to sue.
Question: If people are watching the Superbowl in churches, how does that shrink the amount of people who are watching the Superbowl adverts???????
4 comments:
Obviously the church-based parties don't lower the number of people watching the advertisements. But they do change what one would need to do to get an accurate estimate of the number of people watching. The people negotiating advertising contracts need to come up with better ways of counting the large numbers of viewers for which Nielsen can't account.
I suspected that was the reason, Stewart. I just think it's a stupid, knee jerk reaction by the NFL.
Thansk for continuing to read the blog.
Is the NFL not allowing churches to show the games on screens larger than 55" this year (2009)?
If they are, do we have restrictions... such as comercials, half time shows, etc?
Is the NFL still blocking our use of screens larger than 55"?
Any other restrictions... commercials, half time shows, etc.?
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