The Federal Communication Commission unanimously voted to eliminate their longstanding sports blackout rule, which prevents some games from being shown live on television.

All five commissioners agreed to drop the highly criticized 40-year-old rule, which states that games that failed to reach a certain target of ticket sales cannot be shown live on free TV.

According to the FCC ruling, the much-scrutinized policy benefits team owners and leagues like the National Football League and not the consumers.

"For 40 years, these teams have hidden behind a rule of the FCC. No more," FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement. "Everyone needs to be aware who allows blackouts to exist, and it is not the Federal Communications Commission."

The blackout rule was established in 1975 due to the declining ticket sales for live sports events. According to the Washington Post, around 60 percent of NFL games during that year were blacked out for failing to hit the required live attendance.

Sports Fans Coalition chairman David Goodfriend praised the FCC for making the decision, saying that they are now convinced that the government will not support such rule.

"This is a historic day for sports fans," Goodfriend said via Pro Football Talk. "Since 1975, the federal government has propped up the NFL's obnoxious practice of blacking out a game from local TV if the stadium did not sell out. Today's FCC action makes clear: if leagues want to mistreat fans, they will have to do so without Uncle Sam's help."

But while the NFL will not be greatly affected by the new ruling because almost all games these days are sold out, the league said in a statement that they are not planning to change their policy on handling game broadcasts.

"NFL teams have made significant efforts in recent years to minimize blackouts," the league said in a statement via ESPN. "The NFL is the only sports league that televises every one of its games on free, over-the-air television. The FCC's decision will not change that commitment for the foreseeable future."

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