The NFL Network: Pissing Off Fans All Over the World
Mark Hutcherson:
"There are few people happy with the dispute between the NFL and major cable companies in regards to the new 'NFL Network' cable channel. Last year, several big games could not be seen by millions of viewers because the NFL and major cable companies like 'Time Warner' and 'Comcast' could not agree on where to put this network and how much money is paid to the NFL by each cable subscriber."
"This week, the 'moment of truth' is at hand as millions of Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers fans will be unable to see these two great teams play next Thursday night because of this ongoing dispute. Both the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers will be going into Thursday nights game with an unbelievable 10-1 win/loss record and every NFL fan wants to witness this game on live television. However, most of the United States will not see this football game and the greed of both the NFL and major cable companies are equally to blame."
"The fight over money has grow each year that the NFL has increase in popularity, but when that fight for more money forgets the average fan that has made the NFL so popular, then something has to give and I think it will give early next week. Neither the NFL or 'Time Warner' or 'Comcast' cable desires to look like the 'bad guy' in this dispute. However, when next Thursday night rolls around and most NFL fans are unable to watch the Packers/Cowboys game then something will get done. However, my guess is that an agreement will be reached early next week that will put this important game on most of the cable systems in the United States before game time."
More here.
Note: In my mind, as a devout NFL fan, I won't watch a football game I have to pay special pricing to watch -- it's unfair, it's price-gouging, and it's completely uncalled for.
Screw the NFL Network. They're losing their biggest fans this way. Pisses me off...
-ferg
Off Topic: NFL Network Fight Goes to Texas Capitol
Reagan Hackleman writes on News 8 Austin:
The fight between the NFL and large cable companies was taken to the Texas Capitol on Monday.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made their pitch to the Texas House Regulated Industries Committee to get their fledgling NFL Network into more households. They want lawmakers to force the network and the nation's two largest cable companies into arbitration.
The NFL Network wants both Time Warner Cable (parent company of News 8 Austin) and Comcast to include the network on standard cable at a cost of $.70 per subscriber, per month. Both cable companies want to put the network on a sports tier. Time Warner Cable hasn't come to terms with the network.
More
here.
Background
here.
And yes, this issue is a sensitive one for NFL fans everywhere.
-ferg
Biggest Turkey of 2006: The NFL - Can't See TV
You might have to look hard to find Larry Johnson on TV on Thursday night.Image source: Reed Hoffman / AP / ESPN.comThis really pisses me off.
In my family, throughout my lifetime, NFL football has been a tradition on Thanksgiving Day. While there are a couple of games broadcast as is the usual tradition, one of the prime-time showcase games tonight is basically blocked by the NFL in a pay-per-view money grab on the NFL Channel -- something that, to me, flies in the face of traditional Thanksgiving Day fare.
So I will not be watching the Kansas City-Denver game tonight, and if you're as upset about it as I am, I urge you to boycott it, too. Don't pay for it. Send a message to the NFL.
John Helyar
writes on
ESPN.com:
Want a third helping of turkey on Thursday? If your stomach can handle it, you got it. Want a third helping of NFL on Thursday? Not so likely.
The NFL Network's first broadcast of a regular-season game -- the Denver Broncos vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, at 8 p.m. ET -- will be available to only about 40 million of the nation's 95 million homes with cable TV or satellite dishes. The network is at loggerheads with major cable operators, who've balked at its demands for a big fee hike and a spot on basic cable.
At Comcast, the nation's biggest cable operator (24 million subscribers), the network is available only to customers who pay for premium digital service. No. 2 operator Time Warner Cable (13.5 million subscribers) doesn't carry the NFL Network at all. Among the other top-five cable systems, Charter Communications and Cablevision don't carry the network, either, and Cox Communications relegates it to a premium "sports and information" digital tier.
What gives?
More
here.
FCC Orders NFL Network Back on Time Warner
An AP newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:
The Federal Communications Commission Wednesday ordered Time Warner Cable to reinstate the NFL Network on systems the company acquired from Adelphia Communications Inc.
The commission issued an emergency order to reinstate the network on a temporary basis after NFL Enterprises LLC complained the network was booted without giving subscribers the required 30-day notice. The cable network, a division of Time Warner Inc., is scheduled to show 54 NFL preseason games and eight NFL regular-season primetime games this season. Preseason play begins Aug. 11.
More
here.
NFL Network Storming to Strong-Arm Franchises
Daniel C. Vock writes on Stateline.org:
Some of the pro football fans who flocked to sports bars on a recent Thursday night to see a highly anticipated showdown between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys weren’t there for big-screen TVs and alcoholic beverages. They were just looking for a place to see the game.
That’s because, for most of the country, it wasn’t on cable. The game was carried by NFL Network, a four-year old programming outlet for the National Football League that many cable companies, including Comcast and Time Warner Cable, refuse to carry on basic cable.
Now the NFL wants states to end the standoff.
The league is starting its offensive drive in Texas and Wisconsin, home states of the Cowboys and Packers. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed Texas lawmakers in Austin last week and NFL officials talk to Wisconsin legislators in Madison on Thursday (Dec. 20).
An NFL Network spokesman said the appearances are just the beginning of the league’s state-level push.
More
here.
Background here.
The NFL Sacks Comcast
Kurt Badenhausen writes on Forbes.com:
While football fans gear up for Sunday's Super Bowl, National Football League executives have been busy with an off-the-field game of their own. The competition ended last Friday night, when the NFL concluded months of negotiations over the broadcast rights to eight of next season's games by deciding to keep them for itself and the league-owned NFL Network.
The decision gives the league a package that begins with a 2006 Thanksgiving Day broadcast and includes seven additional games, which will air on Thursdays or Saturdays for the rest of the regular season. The move means the NFL is passing on an easy short-term gain, as cable giant Comcast was believed to be prepared to pay $400 million for the broadcast rights. Instead, league owners are making a long-term bet that they can turn the NFL Network into a must-have cable channel that will ultimately be worth a fortune.
Yay! NFL to Simulcast Patriots-Giants on NBC, CBS
An AP newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:
After weeks of insisting they wouldn’t cave in, NFL officials did just that Wednesday. Now all of America can see the Patriots’ shot at history.
Saturday night’s game between New England and the New York Giants on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation’s homes with TVs, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC.
The Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season.
More
here.
Background
here.
