Comcast subscribers who are fans of the NFL Network, do not bother looking for your favorite channel on May 1. It will no longer be there. The contract will expire and the NFL Network and Comcast have not come to terms on a new one.
After keeping in contact with representatives of the NFL Network and Comcast, I can tell you that neither party has changed their stance on the issues nor has there been any dialogue outside of lawyers debating before the Federal Communications Commission for well over a month. So you really can’t resolve an issue if you don’t address it face to face.
NFL Network no longer wants to be relegated to Comcast’s Sports Package where fans, like myself, pay an extra $5 or so a month to get the channel (along with a number of other sports offerings including the NHL Network and NBA TV). What they want is for the channel to be offered on the extended basic channel lineup — like the ESPN family of networks, TNT, TBS, and MLB Network and of course the local outlets like CSN and MASN. It is the NFL Network’s contention that because of the eight regular season games they air, it belongs on the more accessible extended basic.
Comcast disagrees, saying that the eight games in question are offered to local affiliates in each home markets — for example if the Redskins were playing Dallas, a local TV station in each city would carry the game. Therefore, airing the games nationally are not worth the cost of adding the service to the basic expanded cable and should be part of the Sports Package — where those who are most interested in the games would have access to them as they do now.
I really think that for Comcast and the NFL Network, this is far more personal. I think this has to do more with the recently completed multi-year deal the NFL struck with DirecTV — giving the satellite giant exclusive rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket package. The cool billion dollar deal left cable companies like Comcast out of the lucrative NFL Sunday Ticket business. Fans, by the way, will have access to the NFL Sunday Ticket package via broadband as soon as the 2010-2011 season.
The NFL-DirecTV deal put the NFL Network in the unenviable position of dealing with the angry cable companies who are in no mood to help the league-owned network. The best thing now might be for the network to seek an existing cable partner.
About a year ago the NFL Network and ESPN had some very substantive talks about folding the network into ESPN Classic with a new name and really expanding the reach. However the deal fell apart due to editorial control, among other things.
Ironically, the best partner for the NFL Network might be Comcast-owned Versus. They wanted the eight game package of football games that the league passed on to the NFL Network. A deal between the two would solve the problem for both companies — if they could come to an agreement.
Could these two find happiness together? For Comcast subscribers a deal of any sort is well off into the future, so say goodbye to Rich, Mooch, Deion and the gang at least for a while.
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on washingtonexaminer.com.
