I was all set to write about how the evil cable companies and the business-first NFL was preparing to take a piece of NFL history away from the fans this weekend.
I did the research (looked at my cable bill for the first time in months), interviewed people (okay, talked to this drunk guy sitting next to me at a bar), and made my wife insane ranting and raving about how I was going to bring down the NFL and Big Cable with tap of a keyboard (or something like that ... look, it took a long time to finish "interviewing" that guy at the bar).
But my whole column idea was thrown for a loop when the NFL actually did the right thing and made the Patriots/Giants game available to just about anyone with a TV by simulcasting the game on both CBS and NBC (but not FOX, that would have been extreme).
I'm shocked.
No, seriously. I'm really shocked.
He Wants, She Wants
The NFL wants their new cable network on the standard digital cable tier. The cable companies want to either charge extra for the NFL network by itself or put It on a more expensive Sports tier (because the $125 per month we already pay for cable isn't enough).
The NFL has a government sanctioned monopoly on professional football.
The cable companies have a government ignored and empowered monopoly on cable TV.
Big Cable Owns Washington (and I don't mean the Redskins)
During this power struggle between the NFL and the cable companies, we've quickly learned who gives the most money to our local neighborhood politicians, and it's apparently not the NFL.
Congressmen have been coming out of the woodwork since the Cowboys/Packers game. They're just lining up to bash the evil NFL and throw their support behind the wonderful cable companies.
Pathetic Senator and former even more pathetic Presidential candidate John F. Kerry threw in his worthless two cents.
First, he offered to help broker a deal between the cable companies and the NFL. Then Comcast's check cleared and he changed his tune, threatening the NFL with Senate hearings for not making the game available to everyone (since the U.S. Senate has nothing better to do).
Not one threat thrown towards the cable companies.
Senator Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, threw in his slightly less worthless opinion and threatened to reconsider the NFL's federal antitrust exemption.
Not a word was spoken by him about Comcast's monopoly on cable service in states like New Hampshire.
Why I Hate the Cable Companies
Let's take a look at Comcast specifically.
If I want the NFL Network, I need to pay extra for it. On the surface, I have no problem with this. As a matter of fact, if this was a consistent policy the NFL wouldn't have any beef at all. But it's only a consistent policy if Comcast doesn't own a piece of the station in question.
Case in point: if I want the NFL Network, I need to pay extra for it. However, if I want the Golf Channel, which Comcast owns a part of, I get it on the basic Digital tier. Don't have to pay a penny extra.
If I want the NFL Network, I need to pay extra for it. But if I want Versus (which features cage fighting and Dennis Miller!), I get that for free. By the way, Comcast owns a piece of Versus, as well.
If I want the NFL Network, I need to pay extra for it. Comcast Sports Net is available to me at no extra charge. I wonder who owns that station?
Excuses, Excuses
The cable companies will feed you a line of garbage about not wanted to make the consumer pay for channels they don't want to see. They'll tell you that if you really want to see the NFL Network (in Comcast's case, anyway), you can order the sports package and pay extra for it.
If you're keeping track, they're not forcing me to pay for football (the most watched sport on TV), but they are forcing me to pay for cage fighting, golf, and a sports channel named after them that features countdown shows, Tom Arnold, and a local "SportsCenter" rip-off.
They also force me to pay for SOAPnet, three shopping channels, the Gospel Music Channel, Women's Entertainment, the Style channel, and Lifetime. Which is great because I'm just itching to watch my soaps, buy something endorsed by Tony Romo's current girlfriend, listen to gospel music, see a chick flick about hating men, get a makeover, and then watch another chick flick about hating men.
I'm sure glad Comcast forces me to pay for that and not the NFL Network!
Who Cares?
I realize this sounds like an NFL Network commercial, but I assure you I hold no ties to the NFL other than being a fan. I just can't stand getting ripped off and lied to. It's the reason why I stopped watching the Boston Bruins.
You can only feed me crap and tell me it's ice cream so many times before I wash my mouth out and go find someone else to buy my ice cream from.
So while you're watching the Patriots make history on Saturday, be sure to check out IWantMyNFLNetwork.com.
Let's be honest, the game will be over by the third quarter anyway. You'll need something else to keep you busy.
I'm SeanMC.
SeanMC is the owner of Boston Sports Rants and is also a frequent contributor at The Bleacher Report. His columns will appear every other Thursday on Sports Central.
December 28, 2007
Marc:
Makes me realize why I’m happy with DirecTV. NFL Network HD, plus more HD than any other provider and NFL Sunday Ticket. Thumbs up…
December 28, 2007
SeanMC:
I’m switching over to DirecTV in time for next season. For this season, I gave Comcast it’s blood money so I’d have the NFL network.
Can’t wait to have NFL Sunday Ticket….
December 28, 2007
Brian:
You really should’ve researched Cable TV’s position a little better and you’d find that the programmers (NFLN) drive the prices, not the cable companies. In our system, NFLN wants $1.00 per active subscriber and to be put on the basic tier. That price would be passed directly to the subscriber whether they wanted NFLN or not, for a minimal amount of programming.
If NFLN was put on a sports tier, they could only charge for those who actually cared enough to subscribe to the service and would therefore make much less money but the cost would be absorbed by the people who WANTED it enough to pay the extra cost.
Where is the greed coming from here, Cable or NFL? Cable will pass on the cost to the subscriber regardless, what you can’t seem to recognize is that they honestly ARE trying to do what’s best for the subscriber by giving them a choice to get it or not. NFLN however wants to cram it down everyone’s throat and charge you for the experience even if you don’t care about football at all, just so they get an extra buck.
Once again, cable would pay per subscriber either way and pass the cost on, where is the greed on their part? It seems to me that only greed being exhibited here, is by the NFL…
December 28, 2007
Eric (doublee):
Comcast really is no different than Time Warner. I don’t think whether Comcast owns a piece of the channel has that much to do with it. I get the same channels you mentioned as part of my digital package, don’t pay any extra for them, and I am a TW customer and to my knowledge TW does no own a piece of any of those channels. It all has to do with the cost of picking up the channel.
Honestly, what the cable companies want to do is nothing different than what TW does with NBA TV and the NHL Channel. They offer them both here in Raleigh/Durham as pay channels and nobody cares one way or the other. I don’t quite understand what the big deal is to the NFL if this is a perfectly acceptable solution for the NBA and NHL.
Secondly, if the NFL didn’t jerk the cable companies around with their PPV package and let them pick it up instead of only offering it exclusively on DirecTV then maybe the cable companies would be willing to bend on offering the NFL Channel on the regular digital tier. As it is the NFL wants to dictate to the cable companies on where its channel should be placed instead of actually negotiating a deal with them.
December 29, 2007
SeanMC:
Brian,
The $1 per sub is a starting point for negotiations. The NFLN has offered to go to arbitration and would likely settle for something in the 60-80 cents range. The cable companies have refused.
I’m sure, if given the choice, most subscribers would give up VERSUS, the Golf network, Lifetime. Womens entertainment, and a couple of the shopping networks in exchange….which in turn would lower your monthly cable bill AND give us the NFL Network. Win-Win.
The original title of my column was Goliath vs. Goliath. I’m not crying poor for the NFL. I just think the cable companies are WAY out of line in what they charge and how they package their channels.
Thanks for reading!
-Sean