SUPER BIPARTISANSHIP….Check this out. Megachurches across the nation are being forced to cancel their Super Bowl parties:
Farmland Friends [in Indiana] on Friday joined churches nationwide in abruptly canceling its Super Bowl party for fear of violating a federal copyright law that prohibits public venues from showing NFL games on big-screen TVs.
….The law has been widely ignored for years….This year, however, a celebration sponsored by Falls Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis caught the attention of a National Football League attorney, Rachel L. Margolies.
….The intent of the law, which dates to the 1960s, is to protect the NFL’s television ratings by preventing large crowds from gathering to watch games in public places — where their viewing habits aren’t measured by the Nielsen ratings. (The ratings only measure viewership at home.) Sports bars and other businesses that rely on televised sports to draw patrons are exempt.
Under NFL guidelines — and federal law — churches, schools and other public venues can hold football-viewing parties only if they use a single, living-room-size TV, no bigger than 55 inches.
I smell a chance for some sweet, sweet bipartisan action here! We on the left (along with our libertarian friends, of course) oppose the massive overreach of intellectual property law that gives big business the right to do stuff like this. Likewise, our colleagues on the right would get big ups from their base if (mostly conservative) megachurches were once again free of the NFL/Uncle Sam jackboot. So how about it? Who’s in favor of the Obama-Brownback Freedom to Be a Fan Act of 2007?
