December 5, 2007
Asheville Citizen-Times (NC)
Column by Dave Russell

As an American guy who breathes, I fit the National Football League (NFL) demographic perfectly. While in my basement shop, if it’s available, I generally have a game or football chatter on as a soundtrack to what I am working on. It’s popular nationwide, and in my opinion, the NFL is using its popularity like a greedy bully.

Not content with the high ratings or the $2.41 billion in broadcast rights it sold to NBC, ESPN and Fox, the NFL decided it was time to cut out those middlemen. The resulting NFL Network, which started broadcasting in 2006, has generated controversy between Big Cable and the NFL, and has essentially blocked games from reaching 75 million households.

The NFL makes its schedule, and each of the past two years has set aside eight games to broadcast nationally only on its network, essentially holding them hostage to force fans to press their cable companies to carry the NFL Network. It even set up a Web site (IwantNFLnetwork.com) to help disgruntled fans make noise, with form letters to send to newspapers and senators and satellite TV offers.

Big Cable contends the NFL Channel holds little interest for most subscribers during the NFL’s offseason. Media consulting firm SNL Kagan reports that at 80 cents per month, which is what cable companies would have to charge each and every subscriber, the NFL Network would be the fifth highest-priced cable channel out of about 160. Given that eight games is about 32 hours of football per year, even some NFL fans might balk at paying extra for it.

To folks who think a good night in front of the TV is watching those poor rich boobs on “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” it’s a total ripoff.

Of the 70 or so cable channels streaming into my house, I can think of about 50 I’d trade for the NFL Network, but not if I have to pay more for cable. It’s outrageous already, but let’s not start on the cable monopolies.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, when asked if fans would be more upset with their cable carriers or the NFL if they can’t catch the Patriots-Giants game on Dec. 29, said, “I think the reality is, they’d probably be angry at all of us.”

Maybe so, but most of my anger is directed at the NFL greed that set this whole thing in motion.

Readers can write to Russell at P.O. Box 2090, Asheville, NC 28802; phone him at 236-8973; or e-mail him at drussell@CITIZEN-TIMES.com.
 
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