The NFL Network gives in
Congress had to threaten them. Wow, makes me want to subscribe, how about you?
After weeks of insisting they wouldn't cave in, NFL officials did just that Wednesday. Now all of America can see the Patriots' shot at history.
Good call
The NFL came to its senses just in time, because Mark Kriegel says the league might have learned the hard way that even its vast appeal may have a limit.
Saturday night's game between New England and the New York Giants on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with TVs, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC.
The Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season.
"We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement after the league announced it was reversing course.
NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky said officials would have no further comment Wednesday.
The NFL had claimed that the onus of making the game widely available fell on the major cable providers with which the league has bitterly feuded. Companies such as Comcast and Time Warner have declined to carry the network as part of basic packages.
But lawmakers have pressured the NFL to ensure more viewers could see the game. Last week, two prominent members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Goodell threatening to reconsider the league's antitrust exemption.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who co-wrote the letter with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he was "delighted" by the NFL's concession.
"I think it was a smart move on their part," he said in a phone interview.
Leahy expected to speak with Goodell again next month about the ongoing question of how many fans will be able to see games on the channel. Saturday's matchup wraps up the NFL Network's second season of airing live contests, with eight per year. This one and a key Thursday night game between Green Bay and Dallas last month drew widespread complaints about the lack of availability.
"I never completely gave up hope, but I was getting a little discouraged Christmas afternoon when we still had not gotten a positive answer," said Leahy, who added that his staff members were talking with NFL officials during the holiday.
Local TV affiliates in the Boston, Manchester, N.H., and New York areas that were already set to simulcast the game under NFL policy will still air it. That means viewers in those markets will have four channels to choose from if they get NFL Network.
"I couldn't be more thrilled that as the Patriots rush toward an historic undefeated season, football fans everywhere have won a victory of their own," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who had urged cable and NFL executives to settle the dispute. "With today's announcement, the NFL showed their loyalty to the sports fans who made the NFL an empire in the first place.
"The best news of all is that now no die-hard Pats fans will be shut out from watching their team take aim at football history," Kerry said in a statement.
This will be the first three-network simulcast in NFL history and the first simulcast of an NFL game since the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967, when CBS and NBC televised the meeting of the champions of the newly merged National Football League and American Football League.
"We're happy to accommodate the NFL's request for a joint national simulcast of this potentially historic game to make it available to the widest possible audience," said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal's chairman for sports and Olympics.
NBC was scheduled to air "Dateline NBC" and a repeat of "Law & Order: SVU" during the time slot. CBS was set to broadcast the movie "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "48 Hours: Mysteries."
After weeks of insisting they wouldn't cave in, NFL officials did just that Wednesday. Now all of America can see the Patriots' shot at history.
Good call
The NFL came to its senses just in time, because Mark Kriegel says the league might have learned the hard way that even its vast appeal may have a limit.
Saturday night's game between New England and the New York Giants on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with TVs, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC.
The Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season.
"We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement after the league announced it was reversing course.
NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky said officials would have no further comment Wednesday.
The NFL had claimed that the onus of making the game widely available fell on the major cable providers with which the league has bitterly feuded. Companies such as Comcast and Time Warner have declined to carry the network as part of basic packages.
But lawmakers have pressured the NFL to ensure more viewers could see the game. Last week, two prominent members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Goodell threatening to reconsider the league's antitrust exemption.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who co-wrote the letter with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he was "delighted" by the NFL's concession.
"I think it was a smart move on their part," he said in a phone interview.
Leahy expected to speak with Goodell again next month about the ongoing question of how many fans will be able to see games on the channel. Saturday's matchup wraps up the NFL Network's second season of airing live contests, with eight per year. This one and a key Thursday night game between Green Bay and Dallas last month drew widespread complaints about the lack of availability.
"I never completely gave up hope, but I was getting a little discouraged Christmas afternoon when we still had not gotten a positive answer," said Leahy, who added that his staff members were talking with NFL officials during the holiday.
Local TV affiliates in the Boston, Manchester, N.H., and New York areas that were already set to simulcast the game under NFL policy will still air it. That means viewers in those markets will have four channels to choose from if they get NFL Network.
"I couldn't be more thrilled that as the Patriots rush toward an historic undefeated season, football fans everywhere have won a victory of their own," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who had urged cable and NFL executives to settle the dispute. "With today's announcement, the NFL showed their loyalty to the sports fans who made the NFL an empire in the first place.
"The best news of all is that now no die-hard Pats fans will be shut out from watching their team take aim at football history," Kerry said in a statement.
This will be the first three-network simulcast in NFL history and the first simulcast of an NFL game since the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967, when CBS and NBC televised the meeting of the champions of the newly merged National Football League and American Football League.
"We're happy to accommodate the NFL's request for a joint national simulcast of this potentially historic game to make it available to the widest possible audience," said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal's chairman for sports and Olympics.
NBC was scheduled to air "Dateline NBC" and a repeat of "Law & Order: SVU" during the time slot. CBS was set to broadcast the movie "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "48 Hours: Mysteries."
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Big deal, the Ravens should have beat them. 0 -
Dagnabbit! I have the NFL network. I was having fun picking on the guys at work that didn't have it!
Of course, it is better for the sport to broadcast it nationally!
Mike0 -
The NFL teamed up with DirecTVr and tried to make me swear off professional football altogether. They almost did it. I still watch the games, but I don't enjoy it like I did.
I signed up for NFL Sunday Ticket the first year DirecTVr had it. The price was getting a little out of hand, but I figured considering the price of tickets, it wasn't too bad, and probably worth it. At least I got to pick which games I wanted to watch each week.
I don't remember exactly when it happened, but this is about the second or third year I don't have NFL Sunday Ticket.
I mostly follow Miami and Dallas. One Sunday I turned to the Miami game and it was a blank screen with "CHANNEL NOT AVAILABLE" across the screen. I got on the horn to DirecTVr and ask them what was the deal. The guy told me it was an NFL Blackout. I told him that can't be right. I don't live within two hundred miles of any NFL franchise, and a hell of a ways from Miami. He said Oh, no, it's a new kind of blackout. If the game is on a local channel, DirecTVr NFL Sunday Ticket can't show it. He said the easy fix was for me to sign up for "local channels" with DirecTVr. I should have dropped Sunday Ticket and DirecTVr both right then and there, but I let Sunday Ticket run out that season and I still have DirecTVr. I watched it on local TV via my antenna.
DirecTVr told me it wasn't their idea. The NFL won't let them show the games if they are on the local channel. I'm not sure I believe that, and I don't know what's in it for the NFL, but DirecTVr gets to sell more local channels to people simple enough to buy them. Why would I pay DirecTVr for something I already have which doesn't go out every time a cloud floats over the house?
I hate the NFL and DirecTVr. Kind of makes you wonder why I keep sending them money.
Yes, I'll watch the big game. I don't think it will be much of a game, but I hope I can get over being pissed long enough to enjoy part of it.0 -
quote:Originally posted by dheffley
Congress had to threaten them. Wow, makes me want to subscribe, how about you?
After weeks of insisting they wouldn't cave in, NFL officials did just that Wednesday. Now all of America can see the Patriots' shot at history.
Good call
The NFL came to its senses just in time, because Mark Kriegel says the league might have learned the hard way that even its vast appeal may have a limit.
Saturday night's game between New England and the New York Giants on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with TVs, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC.
The Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season.
Huh? The Bears did it, so did the Dolphins.
Clouder..0 -
quote:Originally posted by whiteclouder
Huh? The Bears did it, so did the Dolphins.
Clouder..
Not in the regular season. It was the regular season + the playoffs. We've only recently had a 16 game "regular" season.[;)]0 -
I believe that back in those days the regular season was only 14 games so an undefeated regular season would only be 14-0 not 16-0. 0 -
As if the Congress doesn't have more important things to do![xx(] 0 -
Now the people that dont have NFL Network are going to get a treat as Bryant Gumball is the game announcer[V] 0 -
The "New England Patriots" an NFL afterthought/punchline for nearly 40 years and this is what they have become......aint parity great. 0 -
Another excellent reason not to watch football. 0 -
Good move on their part.
For those of you who haven't seen the NFL channel broadcast a game, it is a little different. I like the way they approach the game. They broadcast it like it's their product or something.
GO COWBOYS!!!!!0 -
quote:Originally posted by mateomasfeo
Good move on their part.
For those of you who haven't seen the NFL channel broadcast a game, it is a little different. I like the way they approach the game. They broadcast it like it's their product or something.
GO COWBOYS!!!!!
They're not as bad about it as CBS and NBC, but they do their share of showing the third rerun of the last play while people in the stands are watching the current play. And they do still let Bryant Gumbel talk.0 -
16-0, ain't cheating great!
Pathetic, now a full 40% or greater of this countries populace condones lying and cheating in the competitive workplace. Kids today feel it is the only way to get ahead and to be on top.
Whats worse is that corporate America silently cosigns these practices and encourages there managers to follow suit.
Not much stock in INTEGRITY anymore, were headed straight down the pisser and there ain't nothing gonna stop it unless we wake up and put an end to the moral decline of this once great country.0 -
quote:Originally posted by dheffley
quote:Originally posted by whiteclouder
Huh? The Bears did it, so did the Dolphins.
Clouder..
Not in the regular season. It was the regular season + the playoffs. We've only recently had a 16 game "regular" season.[;)]
The Bears once went 18 regular season games without a loss; back when they played football outside, not in a carpeted, air-conditioned shelter. No wonder they play 16 games in a regular season. Pussies.
Clouder..0 -
quote:Originally posted by He Dog
Another excellent reason not to watch football.
EGG ZACTLY!!!!0
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