Extrapolating Wildly From the Flimsy Reed of Personal Experience

I think this whole blood feud between the NFL and the cable companies over whether and on what tier those guys will carry the NFL Network is one of the silliest public debates I've ever seen.  If you're a pissed off cable customer, just pay the extra money for the sports tier or switch to satellite.  If you're the NFL and you really want to get special favors from the cablecos, maybe don't sign monopolistic agreements with their fiercest competitor that restricts the availability of your signature programming package.

As for the cable guys, asking those companies to stop acting like douchebags hasn't worked for 30 years.  For this we now want to get Congress involved?

However, based solely on personal experience, I do think the terms of the debate are about to shift.  In the year-plus that the NFL Network has been showing games, no one has ever, ever, asked if they could come by to watch a game.  I skipped most of the match-ups last year and didn't even realize DirecTV was showing the games in HD on a different channel until almost the end of the season.

Fast forward to tonight, and right now we have four five people coming over to watch the game.  All of them are cable customers.  If tonight's game lives up to the hype, the water cooler chatter might take a significant shift tomorrow.

Comments

[Justin]

"If you're a pissed off cable customer, just pay the extra money for the sports tier or switch to satellite."

I wish it was that simple. Some cable providers don't carry NFL network and some landlords don't permit satellite dishes in their buildings. I happen to fall under both categories. Oh well, guess I'll have to go to the bar.

[Me]

Fair point.

But think of the sports bar owner lobby! The way Washington works, any government-imposed solution would need to ensure those hard-working folks didn't lose out. I'm thinking a $2 subsidy for every beer they don't serve.

[Justin]

haha. very true.

hopefully someday the force of on demand content through tivo/dvr and the internet will force cable companies to create channel subscriptions and program views a al carte.

[Al Fama]

What irks me is that the cable company I have carries the NFL network, and it is included in my 'upgraded' digital TV package (which includes the generic sports tier), but I DON'T get the games. Instead I get some documentary with a crawl at the top of the screen telling me to call my cable company and upgrade my service.

Give me a break, the dam channel isn't that great to begin with, and because the price the NFL is charging the cable companies it is considered a premium channel, please.

I completely fault the NFL, and honestly could careless if my cable company caries the channel or not. It's not like I get to see all the games I want to anyway.

PS - If I could have DirectTV I would, but not for the NFL network.

[BrianS]

I got the NFL network last year, but it's not offered as part of my digital package this year unless order a higher tier.

Stupid NFL...it's not like they need more money. A little goodwill would go a long way.

Also, go Packers.

[BleedingGreenNation]

Comcast offers their digital sports tier with NFL network for $1.99 a month...

Frankly, that's the way it should be. Other people who don't watch football shouldn't be forced to pay for it. That's what it would come down to. It's bad enough that a huge part of everyones' cable bill is because of sports programming. Why does my grandma have to pay for a bunch of stuff she doesn't watch?

[Andrew]

"on demand content through tivo/dvr and the internet will force cable companies to create channel subscriptions and program views a al carte"

Well, that is what the Cable Companies wanted to do to Sunday Ticket - make it a pay-per-view program package. Probably would have wanted charged $10 per game or more. That is one of the reasons the NFL refused to give them the package. They wanted to dictate the terms of getting the service to something very unfavorable to the consumer.

"Comcast offers their digital sports tier with NFL network for $1.99 a month. Frankly, that's the way it should be. Other people who don't watch football shouldn't be forced to pay for it. ... Why does my grandma have to pay for a bunch of stuff she doesn't watch?"

Because, if all those channels were offered on a per viewer basis with viewers choosing which channels they wanted to pay for, most of the channels would go bust from a lack of subscribers since most people tend to view about 10-15 channels at most for 95% of their viewing. A lot of cable companies might go under too from a lack of revenue once everyone was onyl paying $0.30 or less per channel for perhaps 10-15 cable channels. Cable bills of $5 per month simply wouldn't work as a viable business model.

[Brian Westbrook]

The NFL has done the best thing possible to force the cable companies to put the network on a lower tier. They are giving the game away over the internet. Thus cable consumers do not have to be robbed by their cable companies. I can't understand the sympathy for the cable companies especially when Philly is the biggest victim of being held up by Comcast for their sports dollars. I lost all respect for Comcast with their antics keeping Philly Sportsnet on cable and not available to satellite at any cost. At least the NFL makes their programming available. When Rupert Murdoch owned DirectTV he didn't pull any antics with any of his networks with the cable companies.

[slackerjoe]

Why doesn't the NFL also provide NFL Season Ticket to cable providers? Why does that stay exclusive to Dish Network?

They can't cry that cable stations won't carry their NFL Network when they themselves don't allow the vast majority of consumers access to NFL Season Ticket.

Also, I'm overseas (Japan) and I subscribe to Yahoo NFL Season Pass which gives me LIVE streaming coverage of every NFL game. I've got a friend who's an Eagles fan in North Jersey who's not Dish eligible and he's lucky to see maybe half the Eagles games per year. Is Yahoo NFL Season Pass available as an option for him to see all the Eagles games? Nope. This service is only available outside the US to ensure that the NFL keeps their monopoly going by not giving consumers a choice of games.