[A2k] NFL pulls the plug on big screen church parties (WP)

[Manon Ress]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
QUOTE

Ministers are not happy.

"There is a part of me that says, 'Gee, doesn't the NFL have enough
money already?'" said Steve Holley, Immanuel's executive pastor. He
pointed out that bars are still allowed to air the game on big-screens
TV sets. "It just doesn't make sense."

The Super Bowl, the most secular of American holidays, has long been
popular among churches. With parties, prayer and Christian DVDs
replacing the occasionally racy halftime shows, churches use the event
as a way to reach members, and potential new members, in a non-
churchlike atmosphere.

snip

The NFL said, however, that the copyright law on its games is long-
standing and the language read at the end of each game is well known:
"This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our
audience. Any other use of this telecast or any pictures,
descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent is
prohibited."

The league bans public exhibitions of its games on TV sets or screens
larger than 55 inches because smaller sets limit the audience size.
The section of federal copyright law giving the NFL protection over
the content of its programming exempts sports bars, NFL spokesman
Brian McCarthy said.

END OF QUOTE

NFL Pulls Plug On Big-Screen Church Parties For Super Bowl

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR200801310=
3958.html?hpid=3Dtopnews

By Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 1, 2008; Page A01

For years, as many as 200 members of Immanuel Bible Church and their
friends have gathered in the church's fellowship hall to watch the
Super Bowl on its six-foot screen. The party featured hard hitting on
the TV, plenty of food -- and prayer.

But this year, Immanuel's Super Bowl party is no more. After a
crackdown by the National Football League on big-screen Super Bowl
gatherings by churches, the Springfield church has sacked its event.
Instead, church members will host parties in their homes.

Immanuel is among a number of churches in the Washington area and
elsewhere that have been forced to use a new playbook to satisfy the
NFL, which said that airing games at churches on large-screen TV sets
violates the NFL copyright.

Ministers are not happy.

"There is a part of me that says, 'Gee, doesn't the NFL have enough
money already?'" said Steve Holley, Immanuel's executive pastor. He
pointed out that bars are still allowed to air the game on big-screens
TV sets. "It just doesn't make sense."

The Super Bowl, the most secular of American holidays, has long been
popular among churches. With parties, prayer and Christian DVDs
replacing the occasionally racy halftime shows, churches use the event
as a way to reach members, and potential new members, in a non-
churchlike atmosphere.

"It takes people who are not coming frequently, or who have fallen
away, and shows them that the church can still have some fun," said
the Rev. Thomas Omholt, senior pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in
the District. Omholt has hosted a Super Bowl party for young adults in
his home for 20 years. "We can be a little less formal."

The NFL said, however, that the copyright law on its games is long-
standing and the language read at the end of each game is well known:
"This telecast is copyrighted by the NFL for the private use of our
audience. Any other use of this telecast or any pictures,
descriptions, or accounts of the game without the NFL's consent is
prohibited."

The league bans public exhibitions of its games on TV sets or screens
larger than 55 inches because smaller sets limit the audience size.
The section of federal copyright law giving the NFL protection over
the content of its programming exempts sports bars, NFL spokesman
Brian McCarthy said.

The issue came to a head last year after the NFL sent a letter to Fall
Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis, warning the church not show the
Super Bowl on a giant video screen. For years, the church had held a
Super Bowl party in its auditorium, attracting about 400 people and
showing the game on a big screen usually reserved for hymn lyrics.

The letter "was really a disturbing thing," said Marlene Broome, a
spokeswoman for the church.

The church canceled last year's party. This year, its adult Sunday
school classes are having parties in homes, but Broome said church
members miss the big gatherings. "Everybody really had a good time,"
she said.

Large Super Bowl gatherings around big-screen sets outside of homes
shrink TV ratings and can affect advertising revenue, McCarthy said.
"We have no objection to churches and others hosting Super Bowl
parties as long as they . . . show the game on a television of the
type commonly used at home," he said. "It is a matter of copyright law."

The same policy applies to all NFL games and to movie theaters, large
halls and other venues with big-screen TVs, he said.

The policy has prompted some drastic downscaling. Last year, Vienna
Presbyterian Church planned a party in its fellowship hall for its
middle school and high school students, airing the game on its 12-foot
video screen. Church leaders had hoped to use the game to draw in the
teenagers, often a tough crowd to get through church doors.

"We thought we had found our magic bullet," said Barb Jones, the
church's director of communication. The event was canceled, however,
after the church heard about the Indianapolis case.

This year, Vienna Presbyterian plans a party for teenagers in its
basement, showing the game on smaller TV sets.

Like other churches, Vienna Presbyterian will not charge admission to
view the game, and it will not use the event as a fundraiser. In a
testimony to the drawing power of the Super Bowl, churches do not use
the Academy Awards or other high-rated televised events to evangelize.

To avoid attracting the ire of the NFL, some churches are even giving
Super Bowl parties a more generic name. Broadfording Bible Brethren
Church in Hagerstown will call its annual event the "Big Game Party."

The church still plans to show the game on its jumbo-size screen near
the pulpit in its sanctuary. Pastor Bill Wyand said he has heard
secondhand about the policy and is not sure whether screening the game
via the church's video-projector system violates NFL policy. Still, he
is looking nervously over his shoulder.

On the legal flip side, the NFL's big-screen ban could end up landing
the league in trouble.

John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, a
Charlottesville civil liberties group that focuses on religious
freedom issues, is threatening to sue the NFL on behalf of an Alabama
church that wants to host a big-screen Super Bowl party. He is also
seeking sponsors for federal legislation to exempt churches from the
ban.

"It's ridiculous," Whitehead said. "You can go into these stores now
and buy 100-inch screens. The law is just outdated."

***************************************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org,

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Il vaut mieux remuer une question, sans la d=E9cider, que la d=E9cider,
sans la remuer.
Pens=E9es, essais, maximes et correspondance de J. Joubert  p.249
http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/Visualiseur?Destination=3DGallica&O=3DNUMM-88671
Translation: It is better to debate a question without settling it
than to settle a question without debating it