NFL: Stop Crying About Comcast & NFL Network
I read an interesting piece in today’s Philadelphia Daily News by Paul Domowitch about how ticked off the NFL is at Comcast for Comcast’s movement of the NFL Network (both HD and SD feeds) from their digital tier to their sports tier.
The short of it is that Comcast moved the channel to their sports tier, which requires an additional subscription charge, greatly reducing the number of viewers that have access to the NFL Network programming. The NFL wants to have their network available to as many eyeballs as they can to maximize their advertising revenue and increase their exposure, as if the NFL isn’t already overexposed as it it.
The NFL Network is also available in HD on Comcast, but again, only to those who also subscribe to the sports tier. It is totally understandable for the NFL to be upset with this move. Comcast, on the otherhand, claims that the NFL Network is a niche network and one that all of their subscribers should not have to pay for unless they watch it; hence they moved it to the sports tier where you have to pay for it to get it.
The short of it is that Comcast moved the channel to their sports tier, which requires an additional subscription charge, greatly reducing the number of viewers that have access to the NFL Network programming. The NFL wants to have their network available to as many eyeballs as they can to maximize their advertising revenue and increase their exposure, as if the NFL isn’t already overexposed as it it.
The NFL Network is also available in HD on Comcast, but again, only to those who also subscribe to the sports tier. It is totally understandable for the NFL to be upset with this move. Comcast, on the otherhand, claims that the NFL Network is a niche network and one that all of their subscribers should not have to pay for unless they watch it; hence they moved it to the sports tier where you have to pay for it to get it.
There is an obvious flaw to Comcast’s position, namely the fact that Comcast did not reduce the amount of their monthly digital cable charge when they moved the NFL Network. If in fact, Comcast was adding a charge to your bill due to the inclusion of this channel, shouldn’t it have been removed once the channel was moved? Aren’t the digital cable subscribers still paying for a channel they don’t want, even though they are not getting it? What about Comcast Sportsnet and Versus? Aren’t Comcast digital cable subscribers paying for sports programming they may not want there as well? Why should the NFL Network be treated any differently than the channels that Comcast has an ownership interest in? Shouldn’t they all be available on the basic digital cable package or all be moved to the sports tier? Maybe there is something else going on here! I have my opinion, as always!
It is my opinion, based on pure supposition and impeccable logic, that Comcast moved the NFL Network to their sports tier due to the fact that Comcast lost out on the rights to the extra Thanksgiving and Saturday night games that the NFL put up to bid before last season. Comcast wanted the rights to those games as the lynchpin to a national sports channel, based on the success they have been enjoying with their regional sports nets which are very successful and profitable.
Comcast wanted to create their own national sports network to compete with ESPN. Comcast sees sports programming as so important that they even tried to buy Disney, in large part, to get control of ESPN. Being rebuffed on that effort, they sought to create competition for ESPN, transforming The Outdoor Life Network, first to OLN and then to VERSUS. However, the NFL moved these games to their own network effectively ending Comcast’s chances of building a national sports network to compete with ESPN.
So Comcast is left essentially with the NHL, having also lost out on the MLB rights that went to TBS. (Gee, remember the fuss over the Extra Innings package going exclusively to Directv due to cable, including Comcast, not committing to carry the MLB Network? Sound familar?)
In response, Comcast did what they had the full right to do under their contract with the NFL and moved the NFL Network to their sports tier. Tit for tat as far as I am concerned. Amazing that the NFL didn’t see this one coming. Instead of complaining about it, get over it and move on. Mount a campaign if you want to try to get Comcast subscribers to bitch to have this channel added. Not likely to work as it is available to any digital subscriber who wants to pay for it and IMHO, they aren’t missing much not having it. I have it in HD and rarely watch it and will likely only watch it when the games are on, in HD of course!
Encourage cable customers all you want to move to Directv or Dish Network so they can have this channel included in their basic plan. Not that it will have much luck either as there is no need to switch as you do actually have access to the channel, unlike with The Big Ten Network. But, by all means, please stop crying about how bad Comcast and TIme Warner are for not affording us all the privilege of getting their network on their basic digital tier. Last time I checked, there was no crying in football. Or was that baseball? Move on, please!
For more high-def news, please click: TVPredictions.com
Comcast wanted to create their own national sports network to compete with ESPN. Comcast sees sports programming as so important that they even tried to buy Disney, in large part, to get control of ESPN. Being rebuffed on that effort, they sought to create competition for ESPN, transforming The Outdoor Life Network, first to OLN and then to VERSUS. However, the NFL moved these games to their own network effectively ending Comcast’s chances of building a national sports network to compete with ESPN.
So Comcast is left essentially with the NHL, having also lost out on the MLB rights that went to TBS. (Gee, remember the fuss over the Extra Innings package going exclusively to Directv due to cable, including Comcast, not committing to carry the MLB Network? Sound familar?)
In response, Comcast did what they had the full right to do under their contract with the NFL and moved the NFL Network to their sports tier. Tit for tat as far as I am concerned. Amazing that the NFL didn’t see this one coming. Instead of complaining about it, get over it and move on. Mount a campaign if you want to try to get Comcast subscribers to bitch to have this channel added. Not likely to work as it is available to any digital subscriber who wants to pay for it and IMHO, they aren’t missing much not having it. I have it in HD and rarely watch it and will likely only watch it when the games are on, in HD of course!
Encourage cable customers all you want to move to Directv or Dish Network so they can have this channel included in their basic plan. Not that it will have much luck either as there is no need to switch as you do actually have access to the channel, unlike with The Big Ten Network. But, by all means, please stop crying about how bad Comcast and TIme Warner are for not affording us all the privilege of getting their network on their basic digital tier. Last time I checked, there was no crying in football. Or was that baseball? Move on, please!
For more high-def news, please click: TVPredictions.com
15 Comments:
At the very least, Comcast folks get a choice regarding NFL Network.
TWC gives no choice. They just dont carry the network.
COMCAST SUCKS ANYWAYS PRICES WAY TO HIGHT
YOu seem to be missing a point here--no, the price didn't go up when NFL Network was added. What they said was they 'ate' the cost for the first year with the games while it was in court.
What? Complain they took sports programming I didn't want in the first place and give it back to me? How about I complain that they haven't done that to ESPN, ESPN2, the Ocho and whatever other ESPNs have spawned while I was sleeping last night? After all, they're the most expensive cable network; why should I have to carry the cost of sports programming I don't want? I don't see football nuts subsidizing my love of recently released movies without commercial interruption!
Tired of seeing people throw out the Versus/Golf Channel/Comcast Sportsnet argument. I think it's more about the cost per channel and the perceived demand for that channel rather than whether the channel is sports or not. If you're going to make the argument, compare the cost of Versus to what the NFL Network wants.
Have you tried to watch the programming on the NFL Network. After about a day of tuning in, you realize that they just keep replaying the same show over and over. The only time I will watch it now, is when the NFL forces us to watch the games on that channel. The talent is not talented, in fact they're a bunch of egotistical blowhards: Sterling Sharpe? Give me a break!
If the eight games that NFL Network is using to justify basic carriage are so important, why not put them on PPV and really make a lot of money? The answer is that it is easier for the NFL to pressure Comcast to force the network on all of its customers, making Comcast little more than a collection agent for the league, than it is to become a true business partner. Also, Comcast knows that the harcore fans who want the out-of-market games are hopelessly lost to DirecTV anyway.
Let's be honest here, sports tiers will remain little more than a 5% business until a large operstor is sucessful in placing ESPN and the regional sports nets (aguably the most expensive services on the line-up) on these tiers and the smaller operators get the same rights.
Comcast has a very simple business
strategy. Make the cost of expanded
basic as low as possible to Comcast (minimize carriage fees), and put all of the Comcast
owned channels into expanded basic
to maximize advertising revenue.
Comcast is basically a cable company. 95 percent of its revenue
is from cable subs. 90 percent of cable subs have expanded basic.
Expanded basic is the most profitable Comcast revenue stream.
Putting NFL Network into sports tier fits the Comcast business strategy because it reduces the cost of expanded basic, and opens up another source of revenue for
Comcast for the subs who are willing to sub to sports tier to
get NFL Network.
IN about 10 to 15 years, all of the NFL games will be on a PPV basis delivered streamed over the web. That way the NFL controls all production, distribution and advertising. They will increase revenue this way by leaps and bounds over what they get now at low cost. They will get o keep all the ad revenue plus all the subscription fees and can pick the announcers and have total control over how the games are presented. Think how much $$$ that will bring in. IT will dwarf broadcast fees. The tech isn't there yet to do it but will be in 10 or so years. I know they are thinking about this model. That is where sports programming is going. That is a topic for another day!
Enough already! The admin at the site below posted a great FRESH perspective on this nonsense. All of a sudden the NFL Network doesn't look so innocent.
http://ispgeeks.com/wild/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=3339#3339
screw Comcast and the NFL. It's really the customers who get screwed. The NFL Net was available on upper digital tiers (as was NBA TV) but now Comcast took those channels away, without reducing the monthly costs, and wants the customers to pay more for it. Fuck that and fuck Comcast!
Ha its funny because I somehow get NFL network in HD without paying for any sports package.
So many comments from people who want to remain anonymous, and most missing the point. It's all about the money and they (nfl) want you to pay for it all. As always, they will succeed because no one will stick together and boycott them and make them pay for a little while we (the fans) pay for most of it.
Make them sell the product; don't pay them to sell it...
you can no longer get nfl network hd unless you get the sports package..comcast sucks
While I hate Comcast and can not wait until the FIOS (which carries NFLN on its regular package, BTW) comes to my area, the NFL has shafted cable subscribers for years by not making the Sunday Ticket package available. I think that it part of why the cable operators have a problem with the NFL, along with the Sunday-Thursday package issue. That being said, Comcast is full of sh*t with the niche channel argument about NFLN and Big Ten Network. They are making the argument for the "a la carte" structure they have long been opposing. Lifetime, BET, G4, HGTV, Style and E!, just to name a few on my basic non-digital system, are all niche channels I personally could do without. Plus, Comcast has been moving channels (CMT, MTV2, GSN) to digital without reducing any costs.
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