The NFL Gets Another Assist by the Government

by Josh Kirkendall on Oct 12, 2008 6:41 PM EDT in Time Warner vs. NFL Network

There's several issues with the government -- like how they apply their laws (or force their influence, on trivial things, on our daily lives) -- that I passionately disagree with; weighing in on media distributions with a business (NFL) that's allowed to practice within a monopoly, and the exemptions that favor the NFL in terms of the television contracts, seems to be a waste of time for our government.

The FCC (who's more stiff than Frazier's ex-wife Lilith) recently ruled that Comcast MUST carry the NFL Network based on a certain price, through their digital tier. A quick history. Comcast carried the NFL Network on their Digital Tier (starting in early November in 2006) until they decided to move it to their sports tier in early August, 2007. The NFL took Comcast to court, which favored Comcast. The appeals process lasted until this week, which favored the NFL Network, forcing Comcast to carry the NFL Network back to the digital tier.

I've watched the NFL Network, and to this day, other than the live NFL games, I've little seen little benefit for it (and perhaps I'm better off that I don't have to listen to Warren Sapp speak out of his ass... thank god Inside the NFL went to Showtime). I rarely watch football programming during the week -- unless it's a game -- so I'm well aware I'm in the minority, and in the end, it doesn't matter to me personally. But I'm just one. Then again, I wouldn't mind having the abbreviated replays on the Network.

On the other hand, I find it ridiculously hypocritical that one satellite provider is exclusively allowed to carry the NFL Ticket, while a significant majority of the NFL population is blacked out. The fact that people in other countries (like Iran) can watch more NFL games than I, in a given week, is appalling. Like many of you, I stick it to them, watching NFL games, on internet broadcasting sites (god, I love the internet). The crazy thing is that I'd gladly pay for the NFL Ticket, so think of the money they're losing. And I'm just one. And no, based on idiot regulations and policies, I can't switch to a satellite.

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Amen, Brother

As a NFL Sunday Ticket “satisfied” customer, I’lll chime in. Factor in that DirecTV service blows so much (literally, wind will knock out my HD signal), that if NFL Sunday Ticket was available via Cox, Comcast, et al., who in their right mind would go with satellite? Furthermore, it galls me to give money to Rupert Murdoch, the right wing nut job that owns both Fox News and DirecTV. The NFL’s granting of exclusive rights to DirecTV doesn’t even make economic sense – if Cox and Comcast have the bandwith to handle the service (and they do now), doesn’t it make more sense to make the Ticket widely available in order to have MORE paying customers? The NFL is either really stupid OR they have another agenda. I’m not saying the agenda is political, but it appears to me that they are propping up DirecTV against their own self interest.

I also agree that NFL Network is useless. The only redeeming quality is “America’s Game,” on which they just did a retrospective on the 1988 Bengals. I forgot how good that team was and how truly devastating (and disgusting) Krumrie’s injury was. It was really good, see it if you have a chance.

"Ryan, Things in here don't react too well to bullets." - Marko Ramius

by TarZander on Oct 12, 2008 7:12 PM EDT reply actions

Back in my day....

….television broadcasts were free—all you had to do was buy the TV. I don’t subscribe to the NFL network or anything like that. When ever I want to watch a game that I can’t get—well that is why God created bars. I do have Comcast, and although I can’t complain about their service (the people who work there are all very nice, courteous and prompt) that I pay about $150/mo for the privilege of having 200+ channels when I probably watch about 4 or five drives me up a wall. I watch sports when I’m not working the weekends, X-Files reruns, Monk and Psych, and the Ghost Whisperer (Jennifer Love Hewitt—HOT!!!!!).

I’d love it if you could order channels a la carte—but then they wouldn’t make any money.

I don’t have the ready made answer, but the whole communications industry is a racket and one that depends heavily on government structured “competition” (which usually means regional monopolies). Cable and internet have become essentially a privatized public utilities—and we tend to get the worst of both worlds.

by goffchile on Oct 13, 2008 8:25 AM EDT reply actions

if you have comcast, the sports package ( with the NFL network) is ~$10/ month. I just keep it during football season, and I think it’s worth it. They replay 5-10 of the best games of the week on weekday nights and have 10 minute recaps on demand for all of the games.

by R.F. Mehl on Oct 16, 2008 7:03 AM EDT reply actions