Pats/Giants to be simulcast on CBS and NBC [mergedx3]

Re: Pats/Giants to be simulcast on CBS and NBC [merged]

cincipatsfan said:

Good question. Why is FOX left out?

Click to expand...

pats1 said:

They have the Super Bowl.

Click to expand...

I think it's because normally either CBS or NBC would've got this game had it not been on NFLN. FOX gets inter-conference matchups in which the AFC team is the host (Pats hosting the Redskins) and CBS gets the matchups in which the NFC hosts (Pats @ Dallas). ESPN has a contract with the Alamo Bowl so that means that the only two networks who could've got this game were CBS and NBC and neither was willing to let the other have this mega-ratings earner, so they decided to share.

Re: NFL Network will simulcast Pats Giants game on CBS & NBC

sebman2112 said:

The NFL wants the fans to pay extra for their product?

Click to expand...

Yes. It's a pretty widely held fact that the NFL Network wants to be on the premium tier of channels, the cable companies want it as part of basic service. This remains the big sticking point.

Bob G

Re: According to ESPN News CBS/NBA to air Pats/Giants

Rob0729 said:

Is Kerry going to tell us that there weren't real issues that affect people's livelihoods that he couldn't have spent this time dealing with?

Click to expand...

Congresspeople must never deal only with a single issue, or even the most important issues, at one time to the exclusion of others. They must always address a wide range of things, especially if they get an outcry from their constituents as Kerry may well have gotten. That's politics.

pats1 said:

Looks like that cable TV record from the Pats/Ravens games will be blown to bits.

Click to expand...

Nah, most people will watch on broadcast TV.

bakes781 said:

Oh wow Channel 5 must be PISSED! LOL

Click to expand...

I've heard Channel 5 will STILL have the game... so in Boston we will have a choice of 4 channels: Channel 5, Channel 4 (CBS), Channel 7 (NBC), and NFL Network! Oh how will I decide?

cincipatsfan said:

I thought the Pats had already been maxed out on flex/night games no?

Click to expand...

Yes, but that is after counting this one, so if this had been scheduled as an afternoon game they wouldn't have been maxed and it would be flex-able.

Re: NFL Network will simulcast Pats Giants game on CBS & NBC

I hear lots of anti-Gumbel remarks, all of it justified as I have criticized him in my columns as being first lousy, and now boring. If Harry Kalas can do voiceovers, why not bring him in to do play by play? With all the talent out there, I am surprised that all they could come up with was a guy whose resume includes only studio work and the Today Show.

Kalas is a baseball guy with perhaps the most booming, resonant and distinctive voice in America. I would say he works best in narrative features (like the late John Facenda), but Philadelphians would chime in with his play-by-play acumen (their radio guy is Merrill Reese, who is right there with Gil Santos in terms of longevity with the same team). The only reason I bring up Kalas is because of his voiceover work with NFL Films and on the game broadcasts.

If not Kalas, who would be good candidates for their games? Tom Hammond did nicely the one time he filled in (he's with NBC and does the Olympics and horse racing). I like Brad Nessler of ABC, but he is busy with college football. Ditto for Verne Lundquist, but he is the same at CBS as Nessler.

It seems that there were lots of options out there instead of Gumbel.

Bob G

Re: NFL Network will simulcast Pats Giants game on CBS & NBC

bobgeorge said:

Yes. It's a pretty widely held fact that the NFL Network wants to be on the premium tier of channels, the cable companies want it as part of basic service. This remains the big sticking point.

Bob G

Click to expand...

Actually you have it exactly BACKWARDS.

The entire reason NFLN is not on Time Warner etc. is because they and many other cable companies won't put them on BASIC. Comcast had to go to court to exploit a contractual loophole to be able to put them on a premium tier.

NFLN gets about the same money either way, but the audience (and thus the ad rates) are much higher when the station is on basic rather than a premium tier.

Re: Pats/Giants to be simulcast on CBS and NBC [merged]

fgssand said:

At the end of the day...I am sure the NFL felt this was not worth messing around with their Anti-Trust exemption, and they were smart to think that way.

Click to expand...

But their anti-trust exemption shouldn't be messed around with because of a Patriots game. I'm sorry, there was no need for government intervention.

Total abuse of power by John Kerry plain and simple to pander to his constituents.

I can't believe that they change the time from 1 pm to 8 pm (Eastern time).

Re: According to ESPN News CBS/NBA to air Pats/Giants

alamo said:

Congresspeople must never deal only with a single issue, or even the most important issues, at one time to the exclusion of others. They must always address a wide range of things, especially if they get an outcry from their constituents as Kerry may well have gotten. That's politics.

Click to expand...

The government should deal with a wide range of issues that they should be responsible for. There was no need for the government to get involved so the country can see one football game. It is an abuse of power, plain and simple.

Kerry basically got involved in a contract dispute between the NFL and the cable companies. By doing so, he may have hurt the NFL Network's business. Why would anyone want the NFL Network if congressman can step in and force them to give their programming to the networks. What negotiating power do they lose now that the cabel companies have the power of congress on their side?

I am not saying the NFL is right in their negotiations with the cable companies, but I don't see how Kerry had the right to intervene especially when he clearly doesn't even understand the NFL policies like the one on flex schedule. Blackmailing a company even one with antitrust exemptions to change the way they do business with governmental power is just against what this country should be all about.

I don't see how that because many cable companies choose not to carry the NFL Network or make it a premium service because the cost means that Kerry had the right to but in. Where was he when I had to shell out money to get HBO so I could see the season finale of the Sopranos. He should have forced HBO to show that for free on network TV.

Re: NFL Network will simulcast Pats Giants game on CBS & NBC

alamo said:

Actually you have it exactly BACKWARDS.

The entire reason NFLN is not on Time Warner etc. is because they and many other cable companies won't put them on BASIC. Comcast had to go to court to exploit a contractual loophole to be able to put them on a premium tier.

NFLN gets about the same money either way, but the audience (and thus the ad rates) are much higher when the station is on basic rather than a premium tier.

Click to expand...

And this is exactly why the government shouldn't get involved. This is a contract dispute between two companies.

Look, the NFL (like all sports leagues) wants the best of both worlds: they want to be treated like a community resource when it comes to building new stadiums, anti-trust exemptions, etc ... but then they want to be free of the influence of the public on decisions like this. Wrong, boys.

Good on Kerry for pushing for this. He didn't do anything for the cable companies (I've worked in broadcasting, and cable has no love for Kerry because of his stance on net neutrality, and vice versa), but the end result was we all got to watch this game. Sometimes we fans need an advocate. Just like the MLB/Extra Innings thing last spring.

NEPatriot said:

I can't believe that they change the time from 1 pm to 8 pm (Eastern time).

Click to expand...

Huh? The game was always scheduled for 8 pm.

This won't be popular but nevertheless:

My heart bleeds for al the dumb clucks who object to spending a dime to get off their fat arses.

During the 1960's when there were not very many Patriots fans, the Pats games were always blacked out. And the tickets were in some dreary broken down stadium like Fenway, Braves field, Harvard or BC where the view was terrible.

But the useless slugs who sat on their fat duffs would watch the broadcast of the damn stupid Niew Yawk Futball Giants into the Boston area and thought they were football "fans". Every single game, every dreary losing week, home or away, for every stupid week of the season. The Packers might be contesting a game with the Colts or Browns for a title, but all we got were the 2-12 Giants and that was all the local doofuses wanted.

What was ultimately insulting was the sniff, sniff of haughty Giants fans, saying the AFL and the Patriots had to get a football before they would consider maybe following them. As if what the '60s Giants offered, bore any relationship to NFL pro football.

I bought tickets every year and gave up my Patriots season tickets in 1986 when I got transfered else where by my company, and have been buying Patriots games in the media, ever since 1986. First with a "Big Dish", (remember them?), then with Direct TV. I have absolutely no sympathy for the general complaints about not being able to see them. Direct TV offers a game by game package; or Sign up for a cable package for a week and then drop it. Or pay for an Internet broadcast; or listen to an Internet radio broadcast. I've done all before; you can do it if you want.

Perhaps worst of all I have to see sniveling fans want to congratulate that ultimate phony, and stumble bum John Kerry for any of this. His threats are just that. The idiot doesn't even know that ONLY baseball has the antitrust exemption, although all the pro leagues wish they did so, as well.

Re: NFL Network will simulcast Pats Giants game on CBS & NBC

bobgeorge said:

Yes. It's a pretty widely held fact that the NFL Network wants to be on the premium tier of channels, the cable companies want it as part of basic service. This remains the big sticking point.

Bob G

Click to expand...

Is this a "widely held fact" among people talking on internet message boards, or those who are in the NFL Network offices? I ask that question because there are a number of statements out there where the NFL is in fact saying they'd like their channel to be more widely available, and not part of an extra paid service (the CEO of the NFL Net has said this more than once).

The Cable companies have also told the NFL that they aren't getting enough interest to warrent the NFL Net's inclusion into base packaging. I find that stance particularly funny considering some of the other channels they will include within your base packages. Basically, the NFL Network stands to make more ad revenue if they're included in base packages, and they've also asked cable companies for the kind of fees their viewership would warrent. The problem is your local cable company thinks they shouldn't have to pay those fees, and they're using the supposed lack of interest in the NFL Net as part of their argument when they ask you to pay extra for it, because according to them, they'd have to slightly increase billing costs to all customers if they included the NFL Net within base packages.

Re: NFL Network will simulcast Pats Giants game on CBS & NBC

JSK said:

For some reason, this is the only giants game I've been confident about all year and I'm the nervous type.

Click to expand...

Why not? Nothing to lose right??

If you get KILLED (likely), you can say you were resting for the playoff's... If you win, you get to be the toast of the town.

Win/Win for you.

AzPatsFan said:

Perhaps worst of all I have to see sniveling fans want to congratulate that ultimate phony, and stumble bum John Kerry for any of this. His threats are just that. The idiot doesn't even know that ONLY baseball has the antitrust exemption, although all the pro leagues wish they did so, as well.

Click to expand...

Actually that was Leahy and Specter that threatened the anti-trust exemption, but don't let facts stand in your way.

AzPatsFan said:

Perhaps worst of all I have to see sniveling fans want to congratulate that ultimate phony, and stumble bum John Kerry for any of this. His threats are just that. The idiot doesn't even know that ONLY baseball has the antitrust exemption, although all the pro leagues wish they did so, as well.

Click to expand...

The NFL does have an antitrust exemption, look up the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 sometime when you remove your head from your ass.

NFL Network forced to punt .

Re: According to ESPN News CBS/NBA to air Pats/Giants

Rob0729 said:

I don't see how that because many cable companies choose not to carry the NFL Network or make it a premium service because the cost means that Kerry had the right to but in. Where was he when I had to shell out money to get HBO so I could see the season finale of the Sopranos. He should have forced HBO to show that for free on network TV.

Click to expand...

Yep, typical liberal interference with the operations of the private sector. This is a contract issue between two companies. No reason for Kerry to get involved.

Hopefully the game is a blowout by the end of the first quarter, the ratings suck, and everyone loses money.

PlattsFan said:

Look, the NFL (like all sports leagues) wants the best of both worlds: they want to be treated like a community resource when it comes to building new stadiums, anti-trust exemptions, etc ... but then they want to be free of the influence of the public on decisions like this. Wrong, boys.

Good on Kerry for pushing for this. He didn't do anything for the cable companies (I've worked in broadcasting, and cable has no love for Kerry because of his stance on net neutrality, and vice versa), but the end result was we all got to watch this game. Sometimes we fans need an advocate. Just like the MLB/Extra Innings thing last spring.

Click to expand...

Total crap. It isn't the government's responsibility or really their right to force a company to show a football game on other networks because of a contract dispute with the cable companies. If the NFL were violating a rule or regulation set force by the FCC or violating any trust acts, that would be one thing. There was no such allegations.

Kerry just misused his power to threaten the NFL with lengthy and unneccessary senate hearings if the NFL didn't cave. That is a blatant abuse of power.

I don't get how building new stadiums has anything to do with this. Local governments offer to help pay for stadiums and infrastructure, not the federal government.

Kerry didn't influence a public decision. He influenced a private company's business and it wasn't because they wanted to exclude people from their broadcast. In fact, if they had their way, everyone in America would have the NFL Network.

To me this would be like Kerry threating Apple to make the iPhone available to everyone to work on whatever service provider they want rather than just AT&T or have senate hearing on whether they are violating the antitrust laws.

I'd like to see someone try to calculate just how much the NFL has made off the Patriots this years. They already were involved in the 2007 SB v.0.5 against the Colts. This will be 2007 SB v.0.75, then of course there's the real one.

The Patriots and BB should get there money back just on principal. Badell can't milk this cow fast enough