“[T]he NFL's decree that church congregations be barred from hosting Super Bowl viewing parties highlighted how absurd the league's vise-like grip on where, when and how fans can watch games has become. For years, the NFL has denied local fans the ability to see games on broadcast television if the game doesn't sell out three days in advance -- discriminating against elderly, disabled and otherwise-homebound fans.
More recently, the league has resorted to holding games hostage by taking them off the broadcast schedule and squirreling them away on the new NFL Network, for which the league wants all cable and satellite subscribers to pay a hefty ransom. … While the league's zeal for getting a cut of the profits that bars and restaurants reap from such ‘public viewings’ of the Super Bowl may be understandable, applying the same rules to nonprofit religious groups is simply deplorable. The NFL needs to perform some penance for its greed.”
Rev. Willie Wilson, Union Temple Baptist Church
The NFL’s Deadly Sin, The Washington Post
February 9, 2008
“Come next fall, the NFL will go back to its strategy of blacking out games and squeezing a few more dollars out of fans. Turns out that the NFL itself is waging war on its on fans, blacking out local broadcasters so it can force its new NFL Network -- which will air a grand total of eight games each season -- onto basic cable. … If that's the way they think they can treat fans, NFL executives have another thing coming. The NFL should come to its senses and gives the games back to their rightful owners: the fans.”
Julio Colon, Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce-Essex County, NJ
NFL broadcast policies risk alienating its fans, Courier News (NJ)
January 19, 2008
“The NFL’s TV rules were enacted not for the benefit of fans but for the fattening of the team owners’ wallets. … Now, the NFL is charging 70 cents per cable subscriber each month to watch eight games - seven of which most Broncos fans don’t care about and wouldn’t have seen anyway. And the one game we really want - which was on KWGN-2 in Denver - is blacked out in places like Durango, Colorado Springs, and elsewhere in the state so that the NFL can flex its TV muscle. The NFL claims to have started this network in order to bring more football to fans. Ironically, the league’s outrageous demands have meant that more fans are getting less football.”
Ramona Martinez, former Denver City Counilwoman
NFL’s Move Hurts Fans, Denver Post
December 19, 2008
“This year alone the NFL will make billions just from broadcast TV deals. But that's not enough -- now the NFL wants to charge home viewers to watch its new cable channel, the NFL Network. If the NFL gets its way, all basic cable consumers, football fans or not, will pay more -- to the tune of $600 million each year…
“That is why I support putting the NFL Network and other big sports channels in a premium sports package. This gives diehard fans who can afford it the option to upgrade if they really want extra out-of- town games and more highlight reels. With home team games still on the basic channels, neither football fans nor everyday consumers will have to foot the bill. It seems clear to me that the NFL is pushing football further out of reach for ordinary Americans. However we solve this problem, we must keep costs down for consumers. The NFL should keep a great American pastime within the means of working-class people.”
Reverend Al Sharpton
Perspectives: The NFL's end run, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
December 14, 2006
“[If the cable companies were to accept the NFL's terms,] the NFL Network would immediately vault to being the third or fourth most expensive channel on the dial. It could lead to a price increase of $1 or more per month for every cable consumer in America.” said.
Craig Moffett, Sanford C. Bernstein Analyst (quoted)
Cable Cos. Get Free Week of NFL Network, Associated Press
December 12, 2006
“Unfortunately, the NFL has drafted a set of rules which means that our viewers here (in Spokane) and in the Tri-Cities and Yakima won't be able to see the game. What (the NFL) is doing is using the live NFL games in an attempt to get the cable companies to offer (the NFL Network) to their subscribers.”
Rick Andrycha, programming & operations director, Northwest Broadcasting, which owns Fox affiliates in Yakima (KCYU), the Tri-Cities and Spokane (quoted)
NFL -- Cable watchers won't get Seahawks contest, Yakima Herald Republic
December 12, 2006
“The NFL is demanding quite a hefty fee for their content, a lot more than other specialty networks… The NFL doesn't lose too many of these, but the cable systems may be trying to make a point here that the NFL can't always get exactly what it wants and on the exact terms it wants.”
Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon (quoted)
Cable giant vs. NFL in clash of the titans, San Antonio Express-News
November 21, 2006
“[The NFL Network] is raising the rates that it charges cable companies -- and ultimately customers -- by anywhere from 250 to 400 percent for games that most viewers will never watch. All told, this would amount to a $600 million price increase on cable customers, making the NFL Network one of the most expensive non-premium channels after ESPN. … There is one creative solution: Put together a sports tier for this kind of premium programming. It's how cable companies deliver the high-quality HBO to those who want it. The tier could potentially carry other networks, like the NBA and NASCAR's Speed Network. … Time Warner and Cablevision should carry the NFL Network, but only in a way that doesn't saddle the vast majority of their customers with these charges. We must find a way to manage the escalating costs of programming and give viewers what they want without cutting working-class folks out of the game.”
Rosa Rosales, president of the United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
There's a flag down on this cable TV play, Fort Worth Star Telegram
November 13, 2006
