“Instead of depriving most of the nation's fans a chance to see the Patriots go for a perfect regular season, the NFL folded like a cheap suit and put the game on network TV. You might think a new strategy was in order. But the league and NFL Network chief executive officer Steve Bornstein wildly overestimated the leverage they would have with cable companies. The NFL Network charges 70 cents per customer, and because the majority of fans aren't clamoring for the channel, cable companies are winning with the argument that subscribers who aren't football followers shouldn't have to pay.”
Column by Vito Stellino
League's TV Strategy Confusing, Florida Times-Union
April 20, 2008
“[T]he NFL could end this debate by canceling what is no more than a niche channel. Our judgment: a 15-yard penalty against the NFL and its network for roughing the fans.”
Editorial
Penalty on the NFL, Berkshire Eagle (MA)
January 5, 2008
“The NFL wants the Federal Communications Commission to step in and mediate the dispute between it and the major cable companies. The league contends that the cable companies are holding viewers hostage by failing to include the NFL Network premium-free. Not really. The NFL would not provide the programming to the cable companies for free. Higher fees for the content would surely lead to higher cable rates for all. Either way, the viewer will pay.”
Editorial
Football Free for All?, Hartford Courant
January 4, 2008
“The NFL engaged in a lot of chest-thumping and trash-talking, right up until the middle of last week, about how it wasn't going to let anyone but subscribers to its very own NFL Network - who amount to not even 40 percent of U.S. residents with TVs - see the Patriots make their bid to become the first NFL team in history to go 16-0 in the regular season. … Not only did fans not need the NFL Network, they didn't even need cable. Now that's a ‘throwback’ game.”
Editorial
NFL Punts, Patriots and Fans Win, Cleveland Plain Dealer
December 31, 2007
“[T]hat's the most amusing part. The league's raking in $3.7 billion [in TV money], and it's frustrated that it's not getting more.”
Tom Seals
Headliners Aren’t Always Pristine, Wichita Eagle
December 30, 2007
“The action showed the league badly miscalculated when it put a package of Thursday and Saturday night games on the NFL Network for the second consecutive year. It thought demand for the games would force the cable companies to pay the fees the NFL was demanding and put the channel on basic cable.”
Editorial
Cable Companies Top NFL, Florida Times-Union
December 30, 2007
“Until a pact was brokered, about 70 million homes (including mine) were not going to get the game. Why? Well, it has to do with that pesky NFL Network, which wants cable companies to add the channel to their basic package. Cable companies have made it clear that’s not going to happen. The impasse has led the NFL, which has a deal with satellite companies, to put a few choice games on its own network instead of offering it to the rest of us.”
Jeremy Bonfiglio
Fans Win Out Over NFL Network, South Bend Tribune
December 28, 2007
“[O]ther than the eight Thursday night games that the NFL Network broadcasts, the rest of the programming is second-string — and that's being kind.”
Bill Shapiro
How Cable Sacked the NFL, TIME
December 28, 2007
“[W]hat's right would be for the NFL to admit it made a mistake in judging consumer demand for its network and lower its asking price from cable operators. More than 7 percent of homes with NFL Network tuned into the Thursday-Saturday games this season, but people without the network didn't exactly bankrupt their cable companies by switching to satellite. Until that happens, there's no reason for the cable operators to, um, cave in to the NFL's demands.”
Editorial
NFL Boss Full of Hot Air, San Diego Union Tribune
December 28, 2007
“There's nothing quite as clumsy as a bully in retreat. For all the National Football League's tough talk about holding its ground in the face of mounting political pressure to give Saturday night's potentially historic New England Patriots-New York Giants game wider TV exposure, the sports and entertainment behemoth ultimately backpedaled so abruptly it tripped over itself.”
Phil Rosenthal
NFL Takes Sack in TV Drama, Chicago Tribune
December 27, 2007
“Isn't it ludicrous to hear Dallas owner Jerry Jones, the main team owner/spokesman for the NFL Network, sound so deeply concerned about all those poor fans around the country, and especially in Texas, who can't see his precious Cowboys on the cable network because of those greedy cable fat cats? This from a deep-pocketed mogul who has no conscience about selling you a 50-yard line seat in his new stadium for a mere $50,000 seat license premium per chair, another $340 per ticket per game and oh yes, a $750 season parking pass? Family of four at a Cowboys game? About $225,000 a year.”
Leonard Shapiro
Wouldn't It Be Nice..., Washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2007
“Like some of the outrageous antics by coaches and players during games, the tactics used by NFL officials and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to get cable companies to include the NFL Channel [sic] in their basic subscriber package border on the ludicrous… The NFL Network airs eight Thursday night games a season and fills up the rest of its time with replays, features playing up the league or sports schlock talk. Correctly reasoning that all subscribers should not have to pay for a service with only a few popular games, such as the recent Dallas Cowboys-Green Bay Packer contest, Comcast made the channel a second-tier specialty that costs extra. Horrified by the prospect of lower viewership and advertising revenue, the NFL is trying to get federal and state lawmakers to force all basic service subscribers to pay for the football channel. In a state with a pronounced tendency to oppose government regulation of free enterprise, the spectacle of the owner of America's Team pleading for just that left more than a few lawmakers chuckling…. Since the NFL has profited immensely from public assistance in building a new generation of mega-stadiums around the country, perhaps its leadership has come to believe that the national interest requires legislation to compel the cable industry to do pro football's bidding. If the league were really pro-consumer, it should have allowed the Thursday night games to be shown on free broadcast stations.”
Editorial
Out of Bounds, Houston Chronicle
December 20, 2007
“If two companies can't negotiate a private deal that makes financial sense for both of them, so be it. The government shouldn't be in the business of forcing private companies into a deal in which they can't control key terms of the contract.”
Editorial
‘Fan’ Bill Is Out of Bounds, Wisconsin State Journal
December 20, 2007
“This is about fans and consumers having access to the programming they want,’ [NFL Commissioner Roger] Goodell told members of House Regulated Industries Committee last week. If it were, the games would be broadcast over the airwaves. No, it's really just about money… Most of America can't afford to see America's Team anymore. Last month, the Cowboys announced that season ticket holders - their most loyal fans - will have to pay as much as $50,000 for the rights to buy tickets for the 2009 season. That doesn't include parking. Now the league is holding fans hostage again. It wants us to promote its network by calling cable companies and telling them we want it. But most of us don't.”
Column, Loren Steffy
NFL Has a Hand Out, and It's Not for a Catch, Houston Chronicle
December 16, 2007
“Congress should take a hard look at the NFL's decision to move previously free games to what amounts to pay-per-view while grabbing public subsidies to build stadiums and the surrounding infrastructure”
Editorial
Both Sides Fumble the Ball, Patriot Ledger (MA)
December 13, 2007
“The NFL overestimated its appeal when it put a package of Thursday and Saturday night games - including to-night's lame match-up between Houston and Denver - on its own network and expected cable companies to pay 70 cents per month per customer for the privilege.”
Editorial
Greed vs. Greed, San Francisco Chronicle
December 13, 2007
“[W]hy should someone who doesn't care to know the difference between Peyton Manning and Eli Manning cover that cost? Why should a football fan pay $1 more each month for eight measly games a year?”
Editorial
NFL Power Play Driven by Greed, Denver Post
December 12, 2007
“The league appears to be testing the limits of both its fans' patience and their willingness to pay for what they used to get for free. For millions of cable viewers around the country, the NFL also has devised a scheme whereby it can profit not just from die-hard football fans, but from all cable subscribers, regardless of whether they know a football from a flowerpot… The league wants the cable companies to pay it 70 cents per customer per month for NFL Network, which this season carries eight games, including next Thursday's Bears-Washington game. It may not seem like much, but 70 cents is more than most cable channels charge carriers…. We're siding with the cable companies on this one. Fans need to know when they are being manipulated and who is doing the manipulating. In this case, it's the NFL.”
Editorial
Cable Firms Should Hold Line on NFL, State Journal-Register (IL)
December 3, 2007
“[T]he NFL made a boneheaded play that kept a large percentage of its own fans from seeing the best its product has to offer: two 10-1 teams with storied histories, exciting quarterbacks and a lot on the line… Thursday night, they had to find something else to watch or something else to do. The NFL is taking a foolish risk as to whether they'll come back.”
Editorial
NFL's Foolish Game Plan, Mobile Register
December 2, 2007
“I’m a big sports fan myself, but it is easy enough to see the … NFL Network for what [it is]: attempts to extract maximum dollar for not very much in return. If, as a result, they turn out to be the test case for whether a sports tier even becomes part of the television landscape, then so much the better. A sport tier may not be what works for them, but it sure makes sense for the rest of us.”
Joe Nocera
Of Tiers, Football and Dollars, New York Times
October 6, 2007
“NFL Network managed the dubious distinction of producing the lowest-ever modern ratings for National Football League broadcasts. According to Nielsen Media Research, just 2.4 million people watched Browns-Steelers or Chiefs-Raiders on NFLN -- the kind of numbers generated by syndicated reruns of ‘That '70s Show.’ The NFL's highest-ranked in-house telecasts drew barely a third the average audience for a ‘Monday Night Football’ telecast. ‘NFL Network stopped for no gain’ was the headline on the Wall Street Journal's analysis of NFLN's first season.”
Gregg Easterbrook
The Playoffs are Here, No Excuses, ESPN.com “Page 2”
February 17, 2007
“For a longtime observer of the league, the NFL Network has been a fascinating development. Not for the programming itself, but for what it says about the NFL mind-set. For decades, the league held the media in utter contempt. … Now the NFL is its own media outlet. It covers itself on TV and on the Web.”
Phil Sheridan
This is What the NFL Hid from Us for so Long?, Philadelphia Inquirer
February 21, 2007
“The NFL Network has its place as the league moves forward. It's perfect for the zealots who can't get enough of those Sunday morning pregame and analysis-type shows. The truly disturbed can also check out coaches' press conferences and scouting combine workouts. And there will always be an audience for condensed games and NFL Films archives. But too much of anything is never a good thing. In going to Thursday nights, the NFL has gone too far.”
Mike Prisuta
NFL Ought to Shut Off Thursday Night Lights Because of Roughness, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
December 24, 2006
“The NFL Network is looking silly. As a result, the chances of Rutgers fans in the New York-New Jersey area watching the Scarlet Knights play Kansas State in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 28 are dimming. Rather than show grace toward fans caught in a classic battle over money between cable operators and a sports channel, the NFL Network is pursuing a course that will only earn it enmity among potential customers.”
Richard Sandomir
Sorry, Rutgers Fans, This Cable Squabble Isn’t About You, New York Times
December 16, 2006
“This year, the only Saturday NFL television fare to be found is on the NFL Network ... if you can find the NFL Network. It's part of the NFL's plan to force its way onto basic cable. However, cable companies don't negotiate with kidnappers.”
Chris Reidy
...While College Football Fans Suffer, Hartford Courant
December 16, 2006
“But one good option remains. It is not perfect but it would be available to anyone with a computer that has broadband capabilities: Stream the game on NFL.com. Bornstein said that it could be done ‘theoretically,’ because the technology exists. ‘Am I capable of doing it?’ he said. ‘Do I have the rights? In a perfect world, yes.’ So do it.”
Richard Sandomir
For Texas Bowl, Rutgers Fans Could Be Left in the Dark, New York Times
December 8, 2006
“[Rutgers] fans, who have been without joy longer than any others, are getting to experience success but not able to enjoy it because of greed. The inaugural Texas Bowl, as of yesterday, was still set to be seen on the NFL Network, and nowhere else. We all love the NFL. But man, is it just a big bully or what?... But why won’t the NFL Network allow a local affiliate to pick up the Texas Bowl so Rutgers fans can watch their team in the comfort of their own home?”
Rich Fisher
Rutgers Fans Getting the Shaft by NFL Network, Associated Press
December 08, 2006
“As a money machine, the NFL has few peers in the world of sports entertainment. The league has long-term deals with NBC, CBS and Fox worth nearly $12 billion, in addition to another $8.8 billion deal with cable sports network ESPN. Meanwhile, for the first time in league history, the NFL has begun to air games exclusively on NFL Network in every market except the home towns of the two teams on the field. Comcast, Time Warner Cable and other cable operators want to carry NFL Network on sport tiers so that only sports fans shoulder the cost of the programming. The league, by contract, is seeking the widest possible distribution.”
Ted Hearn
Specter Vows to Lift NFL TV Exemption, Multichannel News
December 7, 2006
“One block to the deal is channel placement. Time Warner wants NFL Network in its digital sports tier, where it would cost those who want it extra; the NFL wants it in the basic tier. Also, the NFL wants 70 cents per subscriber per month, a fee viewed as a premium in the cable business. For the casual TV watcher, the channel doesn't offer much, but for the rabid football fan, it's a buffet of information straight from the source.”
George M. Thomas
NFL Bets Network Catches On, Akron Beacon Journal
December 7, 2006
“The NFL figures it’s like a drug. You need it. You can’t live without it, even on Thursday nights. It has you hooked, and you’ll do just about anything to keep getting your fix. … So that 70 cents somebody is going to have to pay — hmmm, I wonder who ultimately will get stuck with that bill? — will make it easier for all of the owners to stay fat and happy. Feeling ill yet? You should be. You don’t get to see games you would have seen last year… And you have become just another victim in the NFL owners’ squabble over all that money. … If we were smart, we’d tell the league that we’ve watched our last NFL game until it stops this silly money-grubbing ruse. But we aren’t smart. Junkies never are.”
Bob Hunter
Greed Drives Feud Between NFL, Cable TV, Columbus Dispatch
December 7, 2006
“Perhaps it was inevitable that the most popular sport in a sports-obsessed country would begin airing its own games and rake in even more TV dollars. This is the first year of a six-year package, and it's the first time a sports league has aired games over its own network. But NFL executives say their network compliments existing TV agreements, and there are no plans to monopolize the market.”
Robert Dvorchak
NFL Network: Who Needs a Middleman?, Pittsburg Post-Gazette
December 3, 2006
“What happened to the NFL -- the most profitable, and probably most publicized and popular sport in America -- doing things for the fans? Jacking up ticket prices, merchandise prices, heck, even beer prices doesn't send me the right message. Putting games on three nights a week -- all on different channels and at different times -- just makes for more of a hassle.”
Jason Barbato
Want the Dish on NFL's Broadcast Idea? It's Lousy, Frederick News-Post
December 01, 2006
“The NFL is playing hardball with Time Warner in its bid to pressure the nation's second-largest cable company into adding the NFL Network to the basic package. The logical next step would be to expand next season's NFL Network schedule to far more than the current eight games. Such a move would further tick off non-access football fans across the country, but the NFL doesn't appear to care.”
Bob Matthews
Sunday's NFC East Showdown Between Cowboys, Giants is Huge, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
November 30, 2006
“Why should cable operators pay NFL 70 cents a subscriber per month for an entire year, for just eight days of programming--eight NFL games?... If the NFL Network weren't so greedy, it would keep its monthly 20 cents per subscriber fee intact--or raise it more modestly. This, in turn, would give it a bigger distribution system--much beyond its 41 million cable and satellite consumers. And all this would make it easier for national advertisers to buy the network, thus creating more revenue. But some TV programmers are an avaricious lot. They don't just want to beat you--they want to run up the score.”
Wayne Friedman
Little Outrage Over Missed NFL Games On Cable, TV Watch
November 28, 2006
“With one game aired, the NFL Network looks as if it has begun to lose leverage against the cable operators. There are no reports of major fan groundswells demanding the channel — Bornstein said his office received ‘quite a few’ complaints but would not say how many — that remind anyone of Yankees fans’ ire when Cablevision did not carry the YES Network in 2002?”
Richard Sandomir
Cable Subscribers Aren’t Saying, ‘I Want My N.F.L.,’ New York Times
November 28, 2006
“The NFL didn’t have much to say about shutting 70 million American homes out of a Thanksgiving night game between Denver and Kansas City because the league is intent on turning the NFL Network into a giant cash machine.”
Tim Dahlberg
Much to be Said About the Unsaid, Associated Press
November 28, 2006
“Not content with the billions it makes every year in various television contracts, the NFL is televising five Thursday night games and three Saturday games on its own this season in an attempt to add value to a network that basically replays old Super Bowls in an endless loop. … The NFL wants big cable companies to carry the NFL Network on basic cable, passing along the costs to millions of viewers who watch nothing more competitive on television than "Iron Chef. … Ultimately, of course, it's the fans who lose. Although, the NFL has long patted itself on the back for airing games on free television, the league is finding more ways to fatten its coffers while lightening your wallets. Most Americans probably don't know it, but they already pay several dollars a month for the right to watch ESPN. A good chunk of that money goes to the NFL for Monday night games. The league sells a package of Sunday games to satellite subscribers, and now it wants money from every cable subscriber to watch eight games a year.”
Tim Dahlberg
Column: the NFL Giveth and Taketh Away, Associated Press
November 22, 2006
“Only the National Football League can turn Time Warner Cable into an underdog victim. The league shifted several games onto its NFL Network, then tried to foist an exorbitant fee hike onto cable systems. Some said no. NFL Network has taken out full-page newspaper ads that make you think Time Warner is building a nuclear bomb. Eventually it will all work out, meaning cable subscribers will pay a lot more to listen to Bryant Gumbel pretend he gives a (darn) about the NFL.”
Norm Chad (“The Couch Slouch”)
Officials a Necessary Evil, Memphis Commercial Appeal
November 27, 2006
“It’s nice to see the cable companies taking a stand here. Until the league starts adding playoff games to its NFL Network package, the relatively small amount of games on the network aren’t worth the extra money it will cost cable subscribers.”
Buck Frank
Cable Makes the Right Call, Altoona Mirror
December 14, 2006
“National Football League owners must be among the greediest people on Earth, and now we're about to get a healthy dose of what that means to us. … Basically, what's going on is the NFL is trying to force us to pay for what we have grown accustomed to getting for free. The $3,730,000,000 they take in every year in television revenue isn't enough for NFL owners. They want to see if they can squeeze some more out of us. … If this succeeds, the NFL will drift more into a world it controls and farther away from the world in which everybody can watch its games. It did well in the old world. Extremely well, in fact. But not well enough to suit its greedy owners…”
Dick Scanlon
Greedy NFL Sticks It to Fans, Newark Star Ledger
November 22, 2006
“The league hopes to reap a subscriber fee -- reportedly a very high 70 cents per customer -- for programming that is narrow and niche-oriented 357 days a year. The companies want to keep the channel on a paid tier, and they're fighting back with a lawsuit, the attention of Congress and even a Web site -- www.nflgetreal.com, started by Time Warner. Not that the cable companies are Cesar Chavez rising up, but good for them. The league is creating content, selling it on its own and, when it does sell to someone else, choosing one group to the exclusion of another. … It's not so bad here, where our local teams' games will be on over-the-air TV. It's horribly arrogant of the NFL in places like Rapid City, S.D. (Broncos), and Madison, Wis. (Packers), with rabid fan bases that won't see the games because they aren't defined as the local market. So we're with the cable companies.”
John Ryan
NFL Playing TV Hardball, San Jose Mercury News
November 20, 2006
“The NFL assumed that most cable companies would be forced to carry the network, so it jacked up its rates. But the cable companies - no strangers to price gouging - are balking… Only hard-core fans want the NFL 24 hours per day, and ESPN already carries enough NFL programming to please most fans.”
Vito Stellino
NFL CONFIDENTIAL: Texans Hoping Sweep Ignites a Turnaround, Florida Times-Union
November 19, 2006
