Sunday, February 04, 2007

NFL Clotheslines Churches

Many church Superbowl parties were shutdown by the NFL just prior to game day. Claiming copyright violations, cease and desist orders were sent out. Most churches never got an official warning, but did not want to cause trouble so they shut down.

I am wondering who sat in the meeting where it was decided to move on this. Aside from being unnecessarily rude, I would think it would not be helpful to their advertisers. Although a minority, I am sure there are many people around the country who have no compelling interest in watching the Superbowl. However, if it is a happening within a community, they will watch. Why would the NFL want to remove a community from watching the Superbowl?

I am not a sports watcher, but when my church has done Superbowl parties I have gone and had a great time. What does the NFL gain by making sure these parties do not happen?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The reason is that they are rated based on the number of televisions that are watching the game. If only one person out of those twenty watches the game on their own then they receive the same rating. If two do then this number doubles. Also they have agreements with establishments like sports bar (another community) which pays them for the right to show the game. Also I believe all of the churches that received a warning were A) charging admission and B) using "Super Bowl" in there advertising. The first is a blatant copyright violation. A similar thing would happen if the church rented a movie from Blockbuster than had a giant showing in the church. And the second is copyright infringement plain and simple.

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