Some cable operators balk at NFL Network

[pats1]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...bn.cable.nflnetwork.ap/index.html?eref=si_nfl

Cable operators balk at NFL Network

Posted: Tuesday November 21, 2006 6:00PM; Updated: Tuesday November 21, 2006 6:00PM

NEW YORK (AP) -- The NFL will air the first of eight live pro football games on its own network on Thanksgiving. But they won't be available to many viewers across the country because the league hasn't reached carriage agreements with several major cable operators.

The eight games -- beginning with Thursday's matchup of the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs -- will be available on local broadcasters, satellite TV and a number of other cable systems that do carry the NFL Network. But that totals only about 40 million of the nation's 111.4 million households with TVs.

Most notable among the cable companies that haven't reached deals with the National Football League are No. 2 operator Time Warner Cable, which is a unit of the media conglomerate Time Warner Inc.; Cablevision Systems Corp., a New York-area provider; and Charter Communications Inc. Time Warner, for its part, says it's highly unlikely a deal will be reached in time for the first game.

Comcast Corp., the largest cable company in the country, has carried the network for two years, but as part of a premium-tier sports package ordered by only about 7 million of its 24 million subscribers. Time Warner says it's balking at a demand from NFL that the network be carried on the most widely available basic service lineup.

In case you haven't heard yet, my cable operator is Charter, which dropped the NFLN last December. The NFL Network just continues to piss more people off, and I don't think having the Thanksgiving games is going to change anything.

 

[CrazyDave]

I'm on time-warner in western mass, and they pulled it in sept or so.
They suck.

 

[Murphys95]

I have Comcast down here and had the NFL Network all Winter as part of a sports teir. Frankly it wasn't worth the price, so I dumped it in the offseason. No regrets.

 

[brady2brown]

I have Comcast down here and had the NFL Network all Winter as part of a sports teir. Frankly it wasn't worth the price, so I dumped it in the offseason. No regrets.

High Def humongous TV = $2200

Comcast digital service and box + cable internet = about $100 a month

Cost of adding NFL Network (and other channels) to cable lineup = $5 a month

Ability to listen to pre-and post-game analysis without even having to hear Michael Irvin's voice = priceless

 

[T-ShirtDynasty]

And mine is Time Warner.

Just a few weeks ago I was called by Time Warner to sell me their LD Phone service. I asked the guy if I could ask him TV questions, or was he just a 'phone guy' ... he said hang on and he'd transfer me to a manager.

Ahhh, it was time for my bi-monthly NFL Network rant at Time Warner.

This time, half way through my rant, the manager I was speaking to interupted me and said, "Look, here's the deal with NFL Network. They don't want us to charge for their network, they want us to add it as a regular digital channel with no extra premium. We want to at least bundle it as part of an extra-charge sports package to offset the cost. They won't go for it. We can bundle it, be we also have to have it in our regular line-up, and we won't do that."

I thought I smelled bulls#*t on what he was saying, but I guess I was wrong.

(FYI: I told him to put down that I would gladly pay for the NFL Network, but no way in hell I'm buying a whole premium sports package for it. I'd switch to the dish first.)

 

[fitch]

Screw Charter.....I switched to Directv after having Charter and have been very happy. I even took down a tree to get the signal. Believe me it has been worth it.

 

[lobster]

The NFL Network seems to be a formula for making a lot of fans very angry. It's a sign of how greedy the NFL owners have become.

 

[T-ShirtDynasty]

It's a sign of how greedy the NFL owners have become.

Why, because they want me to have it as part of my basic line-up, along with ESPN etc and not have to pay a premium for it?

 

[BradfordPatsFan]

Cable companies are now fighting this same battle with ESPN over ESPNU. College Sports Television (CSTV) is available through cable, so, ESPN argues, why isn't our college station?


Some of the BCS conferences are having games aired on ESPNU in both football and hoops and the games are only available through various dish providers and a scant few cable companies. ESPN will allow the games on ESPN and ESPN2 to be aired on their online packages but the ESPNU games are not available in that medium. The thought is to frustrate the customers to the point where they pressure cable companies to add the station.

 

[tkayo]

I subscribe to the NFL network as part of a digital cable sports package. It really is a premium network because you have to have digital cable, and subscribe to the sports package. I saw that some operators said the veiwership was not enough to justify the cost of the network. I watch it all the time, and DVR the daily show, include the point after and regularly watch nfl-replay. I will probably watch every thursday night game as well, so I can't believe that the veiwership is low, especially now, that live nfl games are being broadcast. It's sort of a rediculous argument, with all the nonsense and nitch channels that are on cable now. I mean, most cable operators show fuse's 'pants off dance off', but can't possibly fit the NFL network in?

 

[lobster]

What's in your basic line-up is largely a matter of what the cable companies customers want there. ESPN raised their price to $4 per user a few years ago so our local cable company sent out a poll, do you want ESPN and a $4 monthly charge or do you want to drop ESPN. The majority of customers decided they wanted to drop ESPN. The same could happen to the NFL Network.

Eventually ESPN dropped their price substantially and it appeared in the basic line-up.

 

[PatsFan-NH]

I have to dispute the article at the start of the thread. I have Comcast and am in Southern NH. I have the NFL network and don't have the sports tier channels. I have had cable for about 18 months, and didn't join with any special offer.

I have standard Digital, and then I spent $5.00 for Classic Group/TV Guide/On Demand. That was all I got when the cable was installed. The guy had not been gone for more than 15 minutes and I called and added another group. It was Digital Plus and I added it because I was scrolling through the TV guide and found History International (History channel is rubbish WWII 24/7). That group was about a another $5.00. In that Plus grouping was also the NFL Network.

They do have a Sports tier and the NFLN is also in that, but so are other sports channels. I am not interested in them so I didn't go for the Sports tier. So if you have Comcast check out what is offered with what grouping in your area. Don't let someone who either has incorrect information, or whose information is only good for the area he is in, tell you that you can't get something that you may be able to, for not a lot of money.

And I agree the NFLN on demand stuff for the Pats is very good. I love the channel and during football season only switch off for the games on CBS/FOX/ESPN.

I love the Replays (as well as the commercial - in fact most of the commercials are good - they're about football (except the hated Manning ones)). The Colts and Dallas are on now as I type.

I wish they had more new stuff, and fewer repeats, that the huge college program was on for 8 hours overnight and the stupid cheerleader programs would just go away. But other than that I enjoy the programs, and the commentators who are funny, thoughtful, knowledgeable and professional.

Just because they are not always Pats homers doesn't make them worthless, and in fact there is a lot of respect for the Pats on the channel. Hell the only jackass is Deion Sanders and after he called the Colts 'The All Mascara Team', he has a pass from me for his antics.


I don't have any other bundles and my Cable bill is about $60.00 a month.

 

[pats1]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061123/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_tim_dahlberg

Column: The NFL giveth and taketh away
By TIM DAHLBERG, AP Sports Columnist
50 minutes ago

Sometime late Thanksgiving Day, after the last piece of pumpkin pie has mysteriously vanished and Uncle Frank is snoring loudly on the couch, it might hit you that all was not right on this, the most American of holidays.

...

Then it snatched it away, hoping to make enough of us so mad that we will run kicking and screaming to the local cable television office to demand the right to make an already obscenely rich league even richer.

Not content with the billions it makes every year in various television contracts, the NFL is televising five Thursday night games and three Saturday games on its own this season in an attempt to add value to a network that basically replays old Super Bowls in an endless loop.

The problem is only about 40 million of the 111.4 million homes in the United States with a television get the NFL Propaganda Channel, er, network. That means nearly two-thirds of the country couldn't watch the Broncos and Chiefs even if they wanted.

Greedy billionaires do things like that. It's what helped them become billionaires.

...

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

Screw Charter.....I switched to Directv after having Charter and have been very happy. I even took down a tree to get the signal. Believe me it has been worth it.

Yeah Fitch, I heard you're a big Miami Dolphin fan. Trade a car or two to take a tree down.

 

[HEY BRO! WHAT UP?]

NFL Network is weak! They play the same **** over and over again. I hate it when they play the games and it looks as though the players are in slow motion. The Network is a joke and it doesn't bum me out that I don't have it.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

NFL Ticket is where it's at. The Network is just a bonus.

 

[pats1]

NFL Network is weak! They play the same **** over and over again. I hate it when they play the games and it looks as though the players are in slow motion. The Network is a joke and it doesn't bum me out that I don't have it.

NFL Films slow-motion style is TIGHT.

 

[Water Boy]

Screw Charter.....I switched to Directv after having Charter and have been very happy. I even took down a tree to get the signal. Believe me it has been worth it.

I am really pissed at Charter. I purchased digital cable and a Sports Tier package exclusively for the purpose of getting the NFL Channel. They pulled the NFL channel with no explanation and of course did not offer any rebate to those who are left paying they same amount for 8 channels of soccer on Fox.

 

[STFarmy]

The real pisser is when you have a cable provider that carries the NFL network, but they opted NOT to carry the live NFL. We tuned in to see the game last night, only to see a message informing that we would not be seeing it. So, we have the NFL Network, but no live games. What the HELL was the cable provider thinking? I have Metrocast Cablevision, and I've gone to battle with them many, many times. This is perhaps the last straw.

 

[pats1]

I am really pissed at Charter. I purchased digital cable and a Sports Tier package exclusively for the purpose of getting the NFL Channel. They pulled the NFL channel with no explanation and of course did not offer any rebate to those who are left paying they same amount for 8 channels of soccer on Fox.

Exact same case here. The only reason I got their Digital Cable was for the NFLN. No rebate -- they just added the Tennis channel instead.