So, tomorrow, the NFL is getting what it wants. . .a huge game between two nationally popular teams on NFL Network. The network that wants to charge the cable companies more per month than CNN does so that people get 8 games per year, and not much else (second rate commentary, game replays, and a look inside the NFL combines, ooooh).
Naturally, they’re expecting/hoping that hordes of Americans inundate the cable company with phone calls and angry letters demanding that cable purchase NFLN for their lower tiers.
The flipside is “what if they don’t?” You can’t get any bigger than GB-DALL at a combined 20-2, and what if they public treats it like “meh”?
FWIW, I have Dish Network basic for $30 a month, and NFLN comes with that. Also, I’m a huge NFL fan, but I don’t think I’d be too worried if I wasn’t getting one more game per week. I already can watch 3 non-overlapping games on Sunday, and one game on Monday. It’s sort of like when having cookies in the house. . .I’ll eat 'em in one day if they’re there, but if not, no big whoop; I’m not running out to buy cookies.
Anyone flipping out about this? I’m really not getting much of a public outcry vibe. Some of the media sites are acting like it’s a mini-travesty (like pro football talk), but most people really see the NFL as finally having overplayed their hand.
It is available as a pay extra station on my cable network, and I will probably subscribe tomorrow and cancel after the season ends. For the NFL to assert that football is so big now that the fans don’t mind paying extra for a year round football network is asinine.
If my cable company (Comcast, fwiw) started including the NFL Network in its basic package without having to raise everyone’s rates another freakin’ time, I’d watch it occasionally – certainly for games like tomorrow’s. But it pisses me off at what a money grab this is for the NFL - like you said, they’re charging way too much for what is basically a niche network, and that cost is going to be passed on to all cable subscribers.
Like you implied, I watch CNN and several other cable networks a lot more than I would ever watch the NFL, why the heck would I want to pay so much for it? And it’s not exactly like the league hurts for money, either. Just pisses me off. Not only will we be missing the GB/Dallas game this week, but also the Patriots/Giants game the final week of the season when NE might be going for a perfect regular season record and the Giants will be fighting for playoff position.
I’m not writing or calling Comcast; I don’t blame them for not carrying the network at that price. I might go to a bar to watch the games, otherwise, screw you, NFL!
I have NFL Network through Direct TV. I have just the second tier package, whatever it’s called now, and NFL is on that. Thanks to Direct TV, I get no network channels, so NFL Network and Monday Night Football is all the football I get.
NFL Replay is the only way I can watch the previous week’s games, so I’m not so quick to poo-poo that. They don’t always have what game is going to be replayed in the onscreen guide, so it’s hard to tell if it’s something I want to watch until show time, I hate that.
I agree that pretty much everything else sucks, and ain’t no fucking way I’d pay more to get the NFL Network.
I’d be hitting up my buds with Dish or Direct TV to watch the game or 2 a season that’s worth watching at their place if I didn’t have it (and was a football fanatic, I’m pretty meh over footbal anyway).
I wouldn’t mind if it came as a basic-cable channel. We’ve got the all-but-premium package anyway. However, I’m not willing to pay for it as a premium channel. It’s just not worth it to see the few marquee games and NFL films the rest of the time.
I switched my cable provider a couple months ago, so I’m still on their 6-month introductory mega package, which includes the NFL network. From what I understand, people in the US with the same type of service don’t have access to the NFLN, but I’m not sure about that.
I am a fairly big NFL fan, and I like having the network. However, once my intro cable deal expires, I’m not sure that I’ll keep it. I’ll be watching the game tomorrow, but the marginal value of these few extra games is just not that great. This one’s important, and so is the NE-NYG game at the end of the year. The commentary and other shows are fine, but I don’t think I’d really miss not having them. It’s not like there’s some shortage of NFL on the other networks, and I can always head out to a sports bar for the one or two NFLN games I really want to see.
At the very least, the network should make these games available online for 20 bucks or so- that way they make money from the cable customers and don’t look like such assholes.
I have the NFL network, and I’m happy to have the game, but could probably live without it the same way I live without most late season Monday night games. I think the cable companies would carry the NFL network if they had access to the out of market Sunday Ticket package, which is exclusive to DirecTV. Cablevision here (used to) force me into SNY, YES, MSG, FSNY & ESPN on it’s basic tier. If they force these channels on us for other sports, why not the NFL? It could have something to do with our local cable companies actually having ownership stakes in these regional sports networks. I take a wild guess that DTV has a stake in the NFL’s national network.
I don’t see why the NFL is getting any grief at all. Every other pro sport requires that you have to pay a premium for out of market games. The NFL gives you 3 games on Sunday, and one on Monday. When I watch baseball, I can get an ESPN game of the week, and a Fox game of the week. If there’s a great Giants/Padres game with playoff implications, I probably won’t be able to watch it without subscribing to an additional service. So, I guess my feeling is if you are a huge NFL fan, get DirecTV. If not, watch a highlight show after the game.
Easy for me to say, I’m a DirecTV guy, who also gets the Sunday ticket. I get all the games in glorious Hi-def! AND I have beer on tap at home! HU-ZAH!! Ahem…
The sports-talk radio here is in an uproar over the whole thing, I just don’t see it. There is no incentive for the NFL to soften the stance with cable. The NFL network guys keep saying one thing…”If you want to see the games, get a dish.”
I would be more likely to pay $5 to watch a single game that I was interested in, but no way would I subscribe to something that I will only watch a couple of times a year. Unfortunately, the network TV business model doesn’t work that way.
I agree with what Gregg Easterbrook wrote in his ESPN.com “Tuesday Morning Quarterback” column yesterday:
“The problem is that the league is demanding too high a price for NFL Network. The league wants cable customers to pay for NFL Network, a seasonal product, almost twice what CNN charges for 24-hour, 365-day appeal. If the NFL simply cut its asking price, the rest of the pieces with the cable carriers would fall into place. There are egos involved, however. A couple of years ago, Comcast offered about $400 million annually for the slate of Thursday and Saturday late-season games. An owners’ faction led by Jerry Jones of Dallas contended the league could make more by keeping the games and marketing them to cable over NFLN. So far, though, NFL Network pulls in only about $250 million in cable payments. Jones and other owners who insisted the NFL would come out ahead by direct-marketing NFL Network don’t want to cut the asking price because that would be tantamount to admitting their original negotiating strategy was wrong. As we’ve learned, prominent people will pile fresh mistake atop fresh mistake to postpone the day when they admit their first mistake. The NFL’s insistence on asking too much for its channel is yet another example of how often big business, with zillions of dollars in executive-suite and economic-consultant spending, nevertheless acts as if it’s ignorant of basic economics. To increase revenues, cut prices; this raises demand. (A high price suppresses demand.) The modern globalized marketplace is relentlessly efficient at driving down prices, and has relentlessly, efficiently blocked the NFL’s attempt to charge too much for NFL Network. As soon as the NFL drops the NFLN asking price to the market-clearing level, the channel will air in all homes. Then the NFL can scramble nervously to make its money on advertising, just like everybody else in the broadcast business.”
I’m a DirecTV/Sunday ticket subscriber, so I’m getting it, anyway. I wouldn’t pay extra just for the NFL Network, as it’s really not a very good channel, IMHO. But I love my Sunday Ticket. It’s a necessity for this non-Redskin fan.
Also, I’m able to get network channels on DirecTV in my area, so on the rare occaision I actually want to see the Redskins or Ravens game, I can.
I have no desire for the NFL network or the Big Ten network. Both have been lobbying for local support and both have been turned down by our local cable company. I’m really no big fan of our local cable company either, but I believe they are right this time.
It’s not like I’m going to miss this game anyway. It will just be a good time to have a party at someone’s house with a dish.
This is the same NFL who is locking out a large number of fans from the Sunday Ticket package by making it exclusive to DTV, and then crying about Comcast not offering NFLN to those same fans.
The majority of Sunday Ticket customers are out of market fans(for instance, I’m a Steelers fan in Jax, FL). I would get the Sunday Ticket if it was possible, but it isn’t. Therefore, I go to a sports bar and watch every Steelers game there. I have no desire to pay $5/month to get the 1 Steelers game on the network when I can just go to a sports bar, which I would do anyway, and watch it.
My prediction is that both cable and the NFL will catch some flack for this but that cable will probably win out. Then Cable will raise your rates anyway. Suckers!
I am a huge Cowboys fan. I don’t have NFL Network, and my cable system does not offer it. I will be going to the sportsbar to watch the game.
I do not agree with the NFL’s approach to take games away from most fans and then try to blame the cable company for fans not being able to see the game (and I’ve no love at all for the cable company).