Given my position as a Comcast employee, I'm purposely trying to stay out of this. However...
The NFL isn't pretending its doing it for the fan, though the fans do get the benefit. Its about money and Comcast is the one claiming it will hurt all its subscribers. And that is what is BS.
Actually, the NFL IS pretending they're fighting for their fans. Check this out from one of their own web sites:
We are committed to NFL fans, and don’t want them to pay more for the best NFL coverage all year round. We want our fans to continue to enjoy all the benefits of NFL Network.
What the NFL doesn't mention on that web site was that at last check, they were asking Comcast for distribution on their most widely subscribed to package, and a monthly subscriber fee that would make it one of the ten most expensive channels that Comcast provides.
In the last year, Comcast's programming expenses have increased by nearly 25%. From Comcast's point of view, this is all about trying to keep programming costs in check. They battled hard with MLB Network over programming fees, and for the most part, they've kept the specialty sports channels out of their standard packages. The notable exception is Golf Network, which they carry on favorable terms and which broadcasts a far greater number of live sports hours than NFLN.
Between DirectTV and Fios, Comcast is getting it's ass kicked. They can't even compete with FIOS.
Depends on how you define getting our asses kicked.
Are we losing basic TV subs? Yes. But we're losing far fewer than we thought we would, and those that are staying with us are choosing to upgrade to digital services at a pretty encouraging rate. That becomes a good news story for us because our studies show that our VOD product is immensely popular and one of our biggest customer retention tools.
We're also still adding High Speed Data and Digital Voice subscribers at a surprisingly strong rate. In fact, we ended the last fiscal year with 4.1 million more "RGUs" than we had at the end of 2007. And there are communities in Massachusetts where FiOS has been available for a significant time where we feel we're winning more households than they are.
In fact, cable companies typically exaggerate about a lot of things such as the number of channels available in HD. They include their onDemand channels as separate entities from their on-air channels. So if Comcast says they have more HD than DirecTv, it is because they include HBO-HD and HBO's onDemand programming separately. In fact, one must order most premium channels and include their onDemand HD content to receive as many HD channels as DirecTv offers with a 2nd tier subscription.
The advertising is worded very specifically. Comcast never claims to have more HD "channels" than DirecTV or FiOS or anyone, really. We do claim to have the most HD "choices", which does include VOD programs.
The selling point is when a customer sits down to watch a program on his new $3,500+ HD Theater setup, does he go with the 60-70 linear channels from satellite, or in an era where "time shifting" is becoming increasingly popular, does he choose a provider that can not only offer him a decent number of linear channels, but also provides a library of a couple hundred HD programs from a VOD library?
Some choose the linear channels, others enjoy the VOD choices. I find that satellite customers almost always underrate the appeal of Comcast VOD - it's tremendously popular with our customers. We just passed the 11 Billion (...yes, with a "B") mark in VOD orders. And contrary to your post, most of it is neither premium nor pay content.
