Every night, on our one Fox station, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and a few other shows) are “Blacked out due to Federal Regulations.” However, the next station on the dial, which also carries the same show, is fine. I don’t watch the shows that are blacked out, but for some reason, these are. I know that sporting events can be blacked out in the home region if tickets are still available, but why would a regular TV show be blacked out? Are there any reasons for this at all? I am thoroughly confused about this.
Is the “next station on the dial” you refer to a WB affiliate? If so, since “Buffy,” “Angel” and other shows are currently run on the WB network (“Buffy” is moving to UPN next season), WB affiliates have exclusive rights to broadcast that show in your market. If another station in your market, for some reason, also carries the same programming, they have to black it out.
It has nothing to do with any particular network. FCC regulations allow a local station to ask the cable company to black out any show if the local station broadcasts it, too. It can even extend to syndicated shows broadcast at a different time, though most local stations don’t ask. It was more common twenty years ago.
The idea, of course, was to make sure the local station got viewers and didn’t lose ad revenue.