Blackout Information

Blackout Regulations
The most commonly asked RSN questions are usually about blackouts. In the world of sports broadcasting, situations arise when FOX Sports Net is not permitted to broadcast games in certain parts of the country. These blackouts are designed to protect the individual team territories and rights to certain games purchased by programmers other than FOX Sports Net.

Blackouts on the Regional Sports Networks are not based on arena sellouts. They are in place to protect the various broadcast rights holders for each game. Each league, NBA, NHL and MLB, determine its team territories differently. Consequently, an NBA team and a MLB team from the same market will have drastically different local blackout areas. This can be a confusing subject at times; this section explains the different scenarios in the simplest form.