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Comcast piles on the NFL

C

chuckydoll

Guest
NFL Network is urging people to drop Comcast and go with DirecTV or Dish Network. Comcast is not pleased and has started a legal-system beatdown against the NFL.

The timing looks very suspicious to this football freak. NFL Network will air the Packers-Cowboys game on 11/29, one that shapes up as a possible playoff preview.
 
I dutifully sent form letters to my reps (through NFLN's website) and actually got a reply from our area's state senator. In basic terms, she said that she was more concerned with the escalating cost of cable and applauded Comcast for what they did to keep the costs down. It was more eloquent than that, but basically regurgitated Comcast's talking points.

I should not have expected differently; Comcast owns this area (SE PA), apparently. They are getting frighteningly powerful and are not afraid to use that muscle.
 
Sounds like your state senator is yet another Comacast property.
 
I think she was both - Adelphia had a big operation in her district at one time too. ;D

By the way, her party affiliation does not start with "R" (contrary to what you may think). Not that it appears to matter.
 
I for one applaud Comcast for (finally) doing something right! Yes, you read that correctly.

I don't care a fig about football and with the channels they have taken off my system only to add more sports that I do not watch or care for yet must indeed pay for, I think they have done the right thing in telling the NFL that they would not simply add the football package to a lineup and add 5-6-7$ to a customers bill. Having the true football "fans" pay the extra fee for these games seems very fair to me.
 
The thing of it is, they actually HAD the NFLN on the basic digital tier. Then they conveniently changed its location to the sports tier just before the start of the season. Combine that with every other move that Comcast has made lately and you can see how resentment builds.

Don't get me wrong: the NFL is guilty here too.....of being greedy. For the first time in my lifetime, they started holding back regular season games to be shown only on their channel. Clearly, they are looking for a piece of the action - just as other leagues get with their various packages. The difference here is that the NFL gets paid hundreds of millions of dollars by the networks already.

In the end, the average fan gets screwed by both entities. Such as happened last night and such as will happen for the rest of the season. That's why I think that the whole thing stinks.

Whether you care about football or not, this case bears watching because next time Comcast will do this to a channel that you DO like. Until such time as they give us a la carte programming options, I prefer that they err toward the side of variety. Of the two, Comcast is greedier.
 
Yeah, and if the NFL wins, how long will it be before we have to pay to watch the Super Bowl? They are all greedy, but the NFL is just an dangerous as the cable companies. At least with cable, they have competition from satellite and other cable companies now moving in to some areas. That'll help to keep cable in line, if you don't like their service, just switch. Who is keeping the NFL in line? They already have incredible tax breaks. Hell, my taxes go to pay for our NFL stadium!
 
I'm sure the NFL radio networks are loving it NFL Network's exclusivity.
 
See, I think it is a good thing for those who want sports to pay for them, regardless if it is some useless arena or some sports channel.
If someone doesn't like football, they shouldn't have to pay for the NFL's channel or some football stadium.
 
BRNout said:
For the first time in my lifetime, they started holding back regular season games to be shown only on their channel. Clearly, they are looking for a piece of the action - just as other leagues get with their various packages. The difference here is that the NFL gets paid hundreds of millions of dollars by the networks already.
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And let's not forget the MLB's skirmish with cable systems because of the league's new baseball network getting carriage on DirecTV; this caused the delay of cable companies receiving the MLB Extra Innings package because they wouldn't agree to put MLB's new baseball network on prime territory. And it won't be long until this network gets exclusive rights to games, too.

Meanwhile, Cablevision keeps telling me they're still trying to come to terms with the NFL Network. Then the other day, I was flipping the channels, and there it was! No, not the NFL Network - the NHL Network! Of all the things that we need... I had no idea such a network existed! And truth be told, if they did add NFLN, I would gladly pay an extra few dollars a month; seems that will be the case anyway, if not for the addition of NHLN, then by the company losing the verdict to Anucha Brown Sanders...
 
One point seems to get obscured in many of these types of threads--and that is that all channels, even in roughly the same genre, are not creat---I mean, priced, equally.

The coverage I've read makes it clear NFL Network wanted major $ for adding games. But they only added 8 games--last time I did my math, that's a total of one day out of 365.

If NHL Network or the baseball network or whatever else comes along are cheaper to pick up, then comparing them to NFL Network is like apples and oranges.
 
I think Sunday Ticket is the real issue. If Cable were given acess to Sunday Ticket the cable companies would be more then happy to add NFL network on basic or in the case of Comcast put it back on digital basic. Afteral the NLF is not doing Comcast, Cablevision,Time Warner or Cox any favor puting Sunday Ticket exclusively on DirecTV.
 
Vandelay said:
See, I think it is a good thing for those who want sports to pay for them, regardless if it is some useless arena or some sports channel.
If someone doesn't like football, they shouldn't have to pay for the NFL's channel or some football stadium.
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I agree,The cable rates keep going up to support them.Why I should pay for sports channels, which I don't ever watch.they are too many. also if they're so many, they should do away with network sports.but that will make the nets go broke in their wallet since sports is a major income for them.I don't mind if there is a game on, but I'm tired of these game overruns,as on other posts on here they should get the game started earlier and get rid of the 1 hour plus bullcrap pregame talk.
 
Vandelay said:
See, I think it is a good thing for those who want sports to pay for them, regardless if it is some useless arena or some sports channel.
If someone doesn't like football, they shouldn't have to pay for the NFL's channel or some football stadium.
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I don't care much for the shopping channels but I have to pay for them to get ESPN!
 
Danfm said:
I think Sunday Ticket is the real issue. If Cable were given acess to Sunday Ticket the cable companies would be more then happy to add NFL network on basic or in the case of Comcast put it back on digital basic. Afteral the NLF is not doing Comcast, Cablevision,Time Warner or Cox any favor puting Sunday Ticket exclusively on DirecTV.
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Bingo.
 
Horns said:
how long will it be before we have to pay to watch the Super Bowl?
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Never. The NFL might be greedy, but they aren't stupid.
 
XTalker said:
I don't care much for the shopping channels but I have to pay for them to get ESPN!
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Nope. Shopping networks are free. Infact, the cable company gets a commission on each sale, so you could say they pay cable.

Ofcoarse regradless i'm all in favor of getting rid of shopping networks from basic cable.

As for the NFLN, I love that network, but they want too much. Top 3 most costly if I remember. The problem here is within the last 10 years or so, there's been so many sports networks created, and they want so much money, that it isn't fair too expect everyone to pay for them. ESPN alone is the most expensive cable network. Just adding a few of these is the same as havning 10 HGTV type channels, or the combo of TBS/USA/TNT itself (all ofwhich oddly enough carry more orignal sports programing then NFLN). Keep inmind, there is a simular debate with comcast over adding the big 10 network.

As for the games the NFLN carries. Most are crappy regional games anyway, but ontop of that the NFL ended Saturday games (that use to air the last 2 weeks of the NFL season) to fillin most of those broadcasts (6 games total), so we wern't getting much extra to begin with anyway.

Now as for comcast. Ofcoarse they're doing this for themselves also. My biggest problem with the sports tier isn't the tier itself (it really isn't much) is the fact you have to move up to the digital tier, pay for a box, before you can even get the sports package. Ofcoarse this isn't a issue with the NFLN, since it was already in the digital tier, but for other sports fans. Then again, the same could be said with HBO.
 
Irishfl said:
As for the games the NFLN carries. Most are crappy regional games anyway...
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Yes, there's a really awful matchup with the 10-1 Cowboys and 10-1 Packers coming up Thursday... Not to mention a possible 15-0 Patriots team in Week 17... It's as if the NFL couldn't have scripted this any better!
 
It will be interesting to see who will "blink" first: the cable companies or the NFL. If they end up with low to mid six digit viewership for Cowboys/Packers (including local channels in Dallas and Wisconsin), that will definitely give the NFL a message - that game would have millions of viewers on regular TV.
 
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