Owners Say They Remain Committed to NFL Network Despite Ongoing Disputes With Cable Companies
PHILADELPHIA--When the NFL's team owners decided to pass up hundreds of millions of dollars in potential rights fees to put a package of Thursday and Saturday night games on their league-owned television channel, the NFL Network, beginning last season, their idea was to try to develop a business asset that would be more valuable to them in the long run than the rights fees from an outside TV network they were bypassing.
The NFL is accustomed to winning when it comes to business decisions, but this one isn't quite working out as the owners had envisioned. The league remains embroiled in heated disputes with cable companies Comcast, Time Warner and Cablevision over distribution of the NFL Network, and the channel currently reaches about 35 million U.S. households. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said here Tuesday that the league's leaders had hoped to have the channel is about 50 million households by this point.
But several owners said they remain committed to the NFL Network, and Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones went on the offensive against the cable companies during a news conference Tuesday evening.
"It's going to be a cornerstone asset for the future of the National Football League," said Jones, who was recently appointed the chairman of the owners' NFL Network committee. "... I think we're committed for the long term. You're going to see continued support, a continued effort. We're here. The NFL Network is here. It's part of the NFL. It's going to work."
Said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, the chairman of the broadcasting committee: "It has a strategic fit for us. We still believe in it. We'll work things out eventually. We're committed to the network. We believe in it.... For the fan who wants football seven days a week, it's there. We're committed to the network long term."
The owners had what they called a lengthy discussion about the NFL Network here Tuesday on the opening day of a two-day owners' meeting. Later, Goodell said that the league is having almost no current negotiations with Comcast and discussions with Time Warner and Cablevision were only slightly more active. Goodell and Jones said that Comcast's move of the NFL Network from its basic digital cable package to a more expensive sports tier has reduced the number of subscribers to the football channel from 9 million to 1 million.
"On an urgent basis, we want these games shown," Jones said.
The Patriots play the New York Giants on the final weekend of the regular season on the NFL Network. The Patriots potentially could be trying to complete an unbeaten regular season, and yet it's possible that many fans nationwide won't be able to see the game. Goodell was asked Tuesday if he thought affected fans would be more angry at the NFL or at the cable companies if that scenario unfolds.
"I think they'd probably be angry at all of us," Goodell said.
By Mark Maske |
October 24, 2007; 8:53 AM ET
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Posted by: ng | October 24, 2007 10:23 AM
Further we are among the nine million comcast austomers who have refused to pay for a higher tier with a bunch of sportscasts or sports channels we will never watch. I am glad to hear there were that many customers who would not pay.
Posted by: ng | October 24, 2007 10:26 AM
As a BoltsFan living in Maryland I only had one choice to begin with: DirecTV. The Sunday Ticket is the only way to go. And the NFL Network is part of the basic package. Not to mention I get all digital channels all the time, even with the basic package.
Basic Cable TV looks like the 50's down here with the snowy reception on almost all channels. If you go to digital cable the picture is comparable to satellite, but the cost is much lower for satellite - I have six sets and DirecTV only charges $4.99 for sets 2-6. Cable wants me to pay the same for all six.
Posted by: BoltsFan | October 24, 2007 12:02 PM
It's interesting that BoltsFan mentions Sunday Ticket. Although it's not mentioned in this article, I think that is what is causing this whole mess. The cable companies want to offer Sunday Ticket, but can't because the NFL has a contract/monopoly with DirecTV for the next few years--despite the fact that millions of Americans can't (not don't, CAN'T) get DirecTV for various reasons (eg, live in apartment complex, don't have a clear view of the correct side of the sky, etc.) AND Sunday Ticket is offered on cable systems in Canada and other parts of the world. As a result, millions of American football fans are forced to watch bad games that the networks choose instead of games that the customers might actually want to watch.
Now this same NFL that won't allow cable companies to show all the games to their customers wants to force their network onto them, at a huge cost I might add. For once, I'm actually supporting the cable companies in something. They shouldn't be forced to carry NFLN until they are allowed to offer Sunday Ticket!
Posted by: kenjabi | October 24, 2007 3:01 PM
The fact that most Comcast subscribers who have been offered the choice of paying for the NFL Network, have passed, says volumes about where the NFL Network should be. Why put on basic cable something that 8/9th of the public doesn't want? How can the NFL possibly complain that its games are being blacked out?
Talk about hypocrisy -- a league that has no qualms whatsoever about blacking out a home game even if only a few thousand seats are unsold, or blacking out games that cannot be seen except on satellite, suddenly is shocked to discover that there is gambling going on in this establishment!
Posted by: Andy | October 24, 2007 4:03 PM
Hey, I was ticked last year that I couldn't watch the Skins-Giants game because it was on NFL Network, and we didn't get it broadcast. Now, I'm losing the Chicago-Washington game. That actually REDUCES my involvement in the season, and is going to make me less interested in watching non-Redskins games... and I don't blame my cable company (Cox); I blame the greedy owners of the NFL. It caused me to boycott buying some Redskins clothes last year (right before Christmas) because I was ticked. They lost money from merchandise, and they lost money from commercials... keep it up, NFL, and you might lose a hardcore fan, the way Baseball did with the strike.
Posted by: Skins fan in Virginia Beach | October 24, 2007 4:16 PM
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about a year ago there was lots of noise out of various congress people about how the cable customers should be entitled to "pick the channels we pay for", I actually had some hope that American consumers would prevail. Then DEAD silence about the topic, at that point I figured cable companies made big contributions to congress people, GOODBYE
fairness to their constituents. BUMS