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	NFL Network To File FCC Complaint Against Comcast April 17, 2008 Reuters (NAT) By Peter Kaplan WASHINGTON - A National Football League television channel said on Thursday it would file a regulatory complaint against top U.S. cable operator Comcast Corp in an effort to compel the company to give it wider exposure. The league's NFL Network channel said it would file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, accusing the Comcast of "discriminatory and anti-competitive treatment" because it offers the NFL Network only as part of an add-on service tier. "We don't believe that Comcast should charge consumers extra for our Network while making sports channels it owns available to all viewers on a less costly basis. After months of trying to get Comcast to negotiate fair treatment, we have been forced to turn to the FCC," NFL Network chief executive Steve Bornstein said in a statement. The NFL Network said it was asking the FCC to order that Comcast carry NFL Network on "terms that reflect NFL Network's fair market value and market demand," and not unreasonably restrict its ability to compete with Comcast's own networks. NFL officials have criticized Comcast and Time Warner Cable because they offer the NFL Network, which features a package of NFL games, only as part of a Comcast sports programming tier that costs subscribers an additional monthly fee. Comcast has said the arrangement is justified because the channel is expensive and viewers who do not want it should not be forced to pay for it. In a statement on Thursday, Comcast reiterated that the arrangement is "pro-consumer." "The NFL has immense power in the marketplace, yet it keeps running to the federal and state governments to try to force changes in the deal it freely accepted in negotiations with Comcast," Comcast said. The NFL Network also charged that Comcast is "retaliating" against it because the NFL decided not to sell eight regular-season games to Comcast, partly because Comcast wanted a condition in the deal that would have violated the NFL's policy of free television coverage of games in the cities of the two competing teams. http://www.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idUSN1742928920080417


	.. IMPORTANT MESSAGES FROM PFF A Game Of Smashmouth Cable Football New York Times "This is Season 3 of the Siege of the NFL Network, a standoff that probably will not change this year..." Read more> U.S. Senators Implore NFL To Expand Free TV Coverage of Games Bloomberg News "Thirteen U.S. senators, concerned that the National Football League is moving toward pay television, are protesting the NFL Network's exclusive coverage of games." Read more> Senators Criticize N.F.L. For Favoring League’s Cable Network New York Times “'The N.F.L. leaves behind N.F.L. fans across the country simply because they live outside cities to which the N.F.L. has granted franchises,' the letter says. “'Ultimately, it may be for the courts to determine whether the N.F.L. teams are using the N.F.L. Network to restrict the output of game programming in a manner that violates anti-trust laws.'” Read more>