Sunday, December 03, 2006
The NFL Network isn't coming to the NRV
Christian Trejbal
Recent columns
- The Black House won't restore itself
- When dogs attack goats, taxpayers pay
- Keeping e-mail private
- Protect your head in a moped crash
From the RoundTable blog
The hot topic since Thanksgiving weekend has not been Iraq, the Democratic takeover of Congress or even dry turkey. No, the complaints I've heard most are about football, specifically the new NFL Network, which is broadcasting Thursday night games that many people, especially in the New River Valley, cannot watch.
The grumblings go something like this:
We're the fans who make football the most popular sport in America. How dare the league and the cable companies deny us access to big games? We have fantasy football players to monitor and playoff races to track. It's not fair.
The Thanksgiving game between Denver and Kansas City, despite reaching only 40 million American households, was the most-watched cable program of the night, according to the network. Football fans, especially with the rise of fantasy football, are no longer fans of only one team.
Your thoughts
- Post to the message board
- Agree or disagree? Take the poll
They love the game and seek the villain who keeps it from them.
Some blame the National Football League. It's too greedy.
Others blame the cable companies. They don't understand what their customers really want. Yank one of those annoying shopping channels, Christian networks or even C-SPAN, but give us our football!
There is plenty of blame to go around.
In the New River Valley, only Blacksburg cable subscribers receive the NFL Network. Households in Christiansburg, Radford and Floyd, Giles and Craig counties are all out of luck. Their cable systems do not carry the network, and none plan to add it.
Robert Weeks, marketing manager with Citizens, the cable provider in Floyd, cited the cost. The NFL, he said, demands an obscenely high subscription rate compared with other channels. For what? Eight live games per year?
"Who watches NFL games anyway when you've got college to watch?" he asked.
Michael Kelemen, director of government relations with Suddenlink, which serves Radford and Christiansburg, also mentioned the money. He guessed subscribers' bills would increase $1.50 per month if the company added the network to its expanded basic lineup.
Heap some blame on the greedy NFL.
Kelemen points to another issue, too. He says the league insists Suddenlink put the network in its expanded basic package. If the company could add it to its digital tier, there wouldn't be a problem.
That's not so, Seth Palansky, communications director for the NFL Network, said. The NFL doesn't care on which tier Suddenlink places the channel. Negotiations broke down because the cable company made it clear it wasn't interested.
"We are dumbfounded that Suddenlink would choose not to offer its customers the most popular programming available to them," he said.
Cable companies, for whatever reason, choose not to carry the network. That isn't the NFL's fault.
If it is a question of hitting up all subscribers to provide a channel watched by only a few, cable providers could offer channels a la carte, allowing customers to subscribe to only the ones they want. That idea has been floating around for years. It hasn't become reality because the companies fight tooth and nail against it.
Heap some blame on the selfish cable companies.
But there's another player in all this: the fans. You deserve part of the blame, too.
The NFL and cable companies have not taken away anything. Viewers still get the five games each week -- four on Sunday and one on Monday night -- they always got. There's just one more coming across the ether now. Somehow adding new service isn't fair?
Instead of whining and pounding your fists against corporate monoliths, do something.
If you want that game, switch to satellite. Go to the local bar to watch it. Write your congressman and tell him to do something about the cable companies' refusal to add a la carte programming. Just stop fooling yourself that the NFL and the cable industry owe you anything.
Cable companies are in business to make money. If it's not cost-effective for them to carry the NFL Network, they won't.
The same goes for the NFL. It thinks it can turn a profit on its own network. That's a business decision. Sports haven't been about rivalries and the fans for a long time. The focus on the dollar has taken over professional and even collegiate competitions. The fans let it happen.
Heap some blame on the do-nothing complainers.
Trejbal is an editorial writer for The Roanoke Times based in the New River Valley Bureau in Christiansburg.
