The NFL Network gets agressive with TWC and other lame cable ops

[Hall]

Is the above quote what Fred said in an email. If yes please forward that email as I will be sending it to a Comcast contact that can forward it onto a lawyer he knows who works for Comcast's legal department. ...and I think Comcast would be interested to know that a high level exec at Time Warner Cable is misleading customers to believe Comcast won't carry something that they sure as hell will be.

If TWC and Comcast were in competing markets, this would be a bad thing for the TWC guy to say. The fact that they don't compete and there's no advantage to TWC by him saying it, I don't know what the "legal" fallout would or could be.

 

[Marcus Carr]

NFL, cable operators square off

Posted 7/27/2006 10:17 PM ET

Leave it to the NFL to take on the most stubborn, monopolistic sector of the media world: cable TV operators.

The NFL's plan to try to force cable providers such as Time Warner and Cablevision to carry its NFL Network channel — by going over their heads to their customers with a $100 million ad campaign — sets up a clash of superpowers.

The TV, print and radio ads will name cable operators who've refused to carry the NFL Network. They'll urge football fans in those markets to either force their cable company to air the 24/7 football channel or get themselves a satellite dish.

Cable companies control the pipes and are used to getting their way. When there are disputes with programmers, they flip the off button until the beef is settled. The NFL also enters this fight without the leverage of media giants Viacom and News Corp., which can offer package deals.

But the league, which has expanded NFL Network into 41 million homes in only 32 months, is used to getting its own way, too, and usually does. This season NFL Network will air a package of eight Thursday/Saturday night games. It hopes football fans in markets such as New York, Tampa, Green Bay, Houston and St. Louis will go ballistic when they realize their cable company isn't playing ball.

"People will go nuts on Thanksgiving when there's a game on and they can't watch it," says Seth Palansky of the NFL Network. Forcing its way into another 25 million homes this season will bring NFL Network two-thirds of the way toward its goal of matching ESPN's distribution of 91 million homes.

Can the NFL pull it off? Don't bet against the country's most powerful and popular league, says cable TV expert Jimmy Schaeffler, a senior analyst with the Carmel Group consultancy. "They don't have leverage with individual operators, but they have leverage where it counts the most. With consumers. Who else gets in so many homes in less than three years? They're a one-of-kind entity."

Sure, NFL Network will tick off people it may have to do business with in the future. But as the old saying goes, if they can't earn respect out of love, they'll earn it out of fear. Nothing scares cable companies more than customers heading for the door. This should be one of the best matchups of the new season.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/mccarthy/2006-07-27-weekend_x.htm

 

[liquidnw]

Interesting article on SNY and NFL Network

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20060729/1064938.asp

Basically the article says it will be forceing SNY on NY DMA subscribers in a basic tier regardless of if they want it or not. So basically the excuse of not wanting to force NFL network on subs is a joke. They nave no problem forcing SNY on people, WHY? because they own are part of it.

 

[Tvfan24/7]

Comcast in NJ has the NFL Network in the "Digital Plus" package and not in the Sports Tier.

 

[AndyHDTV]

Speak out, If u feel the NFL Network is at fault here.

http://www.nflgetreal.com/

 

[cablewithaview]

I think the NFL Network wants a ESPN type approach to providers. ESPN is over $3.50 per sub but yet we all bitch about increases in cable and satellite. could you imagen how much your packge would be if NFL Network alone went up that much? As for sports in general, I feel they all should be kept seperate from basic and expanded and be considered a tier. this alone would keep the price down on a basic or expanded basic package as well There is only 25% to 30% on average that really watches these channels. Fox Sports is well over $2 now and climbing as well.

 

[cablewithaview]

also, I don't think 8 games is such a big deal.

 

[terryfoster]

Speak out, If u feel the NFL Network is at fault here.

http://www.nflgetreal.com/

This form does not appear to be provided by TWC. I did a look up on this domain name in it was registered/created on 7/18/2006 by Ketchum Inc. It would seem to me that TWC could register their own domain names just like timewarnercable.com. I'm not saying this isn't legit, it just seems fishy.

Provide personal info at your own risk.

 

[LonghornXP]

Listen guys and gals the fact is that NFL Network isn't charging anything close to what ESPN is charging and honestly I'm flatout amazed this was even said by anyone at TWC. NFL Network is charging closer to 25 cents per sub and honestly ask yourself if they were charging that much why would so many companies both cable and satellite carry it. NFL Network wants to be in homes and charging one company out of 10 way higher feeds isn't something they would do. If every company had it but Comcast than maybe just maybe I could see them asking for maybe one dollar instead of 25 cents per sub just because Comcast has the most total customers of any TV company. We know that isn't the case and I've talked with two of my contacts at BHN who know people in TWC Corp and I'm told by both that pricing is between 25-40 cents per sub if its placed on a basic analog teir for 40ish per month. This would be the same tier Verizon has it in now and would be like putting it on Total Choice with DirecTV. Now the 3.00+ dollar per customer is true but what we the public fails to be told is that this price is what NFL Network will charge TWC if they put it in the digital tier and if TWC puts it in a sports pak they will charge 5.00 per sub. Honestly I see nothing wrong with NFL Network doing this as they are setting their pricing to force companies to offer it to as many customers as they can. So good old Fred still left out that important tidbit of information just for the sole purpose of making TWC look like the good guys.

Why do you think Verizon moved it out of the SportsPak and into their basic package is the question you should ask yourself.

 

[AndyHDTV]

OMG, I sure hope that they never add NFL Network to the basic Analog subscription. The last thing TWC needs is another bandwidth hogging analog channel. I hope they add it to its standard Digital tier or Some other Digital tier.

 

[GeorgeLV]

Dish (or DirectTV) does not have local (ABC, NBC, Fox, CBS) HD channels here yet. I'd have to get an OTA antenna ... too big of a pain in the a@@.

Your satellite installer will take care of the OTA for you. Unless you live upwards of 70 miles away from the broadcast towers and would need an extreme solution for OTA, there no reason not to switch if the NFL Network is a priority for you.

 

[JJSerrano]

Time warner just took over Comcast in the dallas area and put up a message about the nfl network on that channel. Now the NFL Networkchannel is back up. Dont know if this is nationwide or just in Dallas, but it looks like we got it back.

 

[cablewithaview]

Time warner just took over Comcast in the dallas area and put up a message about the nfl network on that channel. Now the NFL Networkchannel is back up. Dont know if this is nationwide or just in Dallas, but it looks like we got it back.

more on that here:
http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?p=631970#post631970

 

[dopestyzo]

NFL knows they are the Pimps. They always get their way and this time they are being challenge. Its hard 'cus i love football but in such a short time, making billions on tv deals, moving Monday Night Football and i even heard they planning to put the Superbowl on PPV. Last season, they were warning radio stations for saying "SUPERBOWL" in their promos. They had to say THE BIG GAME. Its rediculous

 

[cable-guy]

TWC is in negotiations with the NFL to provide this servicce to our customers. The problem is with the NFL. they are trying to charge for every game including ones that are already broadcast on your local stations. the nfl wants twc to pay for all games which will in turn force twc to charge more for the nfl package. twc does not want to do that. to keep prices down, twc only wants to pay for games that are not locally broadcast in order to keep prices down. the ad campaign going aroun is incorrect. twc wants the nfl package, but it is the nfl that is causing the problem by trying to make more money. it is crazy to think that in the ompetitive marke of tv services that time warner wouldnt ant thier customers to have a particular. service, they only want to make it more cost effective

 

[cable-guy]

read the following message from the TWC head honcho:

From: Landel C. Hobbs, Chief Operating Officer

Subject: We Want to Hear From You

As many of you may know, Time Warner Cable is in difficult negotiations with the NFL Network to carry the channel on our cable systems throughout the U.S. Our business goal is to place NFLN on a sports tier with financial terms acceptable to TWC and our customers.

As pre-season games get underway (August 11), this issue is likely to heat up. And of course, if the issue is not resolved by Thanksgiving, when the first of eight, regular-season, out-of-market games are televised on the NFL Network, we can expect to hear from many more sports fans who want those games.

The NFL Network has announced it’s spending $100 million to bad mouth Time Warner Cable. They think the power of the NFL name will force us too accept any terms they dictate.

The fact is we want to carry the NFL Network, but not on just any terms. And we think, our customers-both sports fans and non-fans-will appreciate why we are holding out for terms that make sense for them.

The public debate around this will likely affect the negotiators at the bargaining table. So, we encourage you to talk this up with your family and friends. The NFL’s carefully orchestrated, expensive media campaign shouldn’t be left unanswered. They are not telling the whole story.

Most fans don’t realize their home team games will be brought to them regardless of whether Time Warner Cable concludes a deal for the NFL Network or not. Many fans don’t realize Time Warner Cable already provides over 100 regular season games on ESPN, CBS, Fox and NBC. In fact, the eight out-of-market games, which the NFL Network is offering, were stripped out from these other networks. So in a very real sense, the NFL Network wants to charge us a premium for games we already paid for.

I encourage you to find out more about what is really going on here. Visit our website, “NFL Get Real,” --- www.nflgetreal.com - and encourage others who may have an interest in NFL football to do the same.



Thank you.



Landel

 

[toadfannc]

rOur business goal is to place NFLN on a sports tier with financial terms acceptable to TWC and our customers.

The fact is we want to carry the NFL Network, but not on just any terms.

Most fans don’t realize their home team games will be brought to them regardless of whether Time Warner Cable concludes a deal for the NFL Network or not. So in a very real sense, the NFL Network wants to charge us a premium for games we already paid for.

People- don't believe this garbage. The fact is that the problem IS with TWC. They want terms that no other cable provider has been given by the NFL for the NFL Network. Using TWC's logic ... why isn't MTV, VH1 and CMT on a music-only tier, so that only those customers who like music would have to pay for it? Hmmm. Even now, the Golf Channel and Speed Channel are on expanded basic- not on a sports tier.

The fact is that TWC wants to relegate the NFL Network to a sports tier, so they can over-charge for it and bundle it with the other worthless channels they currently have there (Tennis Channel, CSTV, etc.). Why would the NFL accept this instead of the built-in majority of the subscribers who already have expanded basic?

And, the comment about the NFL "taking away games from the networks, so that we would be paying extra for games that we already pay for" is ludicrous. I didn't hear that the past 20 years with ESPN having the Sunday night package. As a matter of fact, TWC has always promoted those games ... why, because ESPN is part of the TWC line-up.

Don't you see? It's all about TWC and their mega-profits. We pay (a lot) more than any other cable subscribers, for (a lot) less ... especially programming. TWC is ALWAYS last to add any channel of value. It's been almost 2 years since they added any quality HD channel.

Vote with your wallet-- if the NFL Network (SD/HD) is not on TWC by the time the NFL season begins-- explore your options. I too like the convenience of cable (over satellite), but they are forcing us with their disregard and contempt for the very people who line their pockets.

Oh, and by the way ... their joke of a web site (getrealnfl ... ) is full of lies. Check out the many articles on-line that point it out (ex. "350% increase"). Don't let these futile attempts by TWC fool you.

 

[cable-guy]

dude, you are so wrong! if it was about profits for the company, we could make just as much by charging you for all the games instead of negotiating to pay the nfl less. would you rather twc go ahead and pay what the nfl wants and it reflect in your bill or would you rather twc negotiate for a lower cost. as a consumer, i am happy to see a big business not bow down to another big business. I know this is a problem with the nfl, but i dont see anyone pointing the finger that direction, i just see everyone blaming twc. does anyone realize that the nfl is no longer football, but rather just another big business that has exclusive rights to the franchise and is trying to make more money, just like the other big businesses of the world.

 

[toadfannc]

dude, you are so wrong! if it was about profits for the company, we could make just as much by charging you for all the games instead of negotiating to pay the nfl less. would you rather twc go ahead and pay what the nfl wants and it reflect in your bill or would you rather twc negotiate for a lower cost. as a consumer, i am happy to see a big business not bow down to another big business. I know this is a problem with the nfl, but i dont see anyone pointing the finger that direction, i just see everyone blaming twc. does anyone realize that the nfl is no longer football, but rather just another big business that has exclusive rights to the franchise and is trying to make more money, just like the other big businesses of the world.

Dude, what I'd rather see is TWC reach into their record profits for this year and provide the NFL Network without a rate increase. Just like Comcast, Cox, and 75 other cable companies have done (along with the 2 satellite providers). But NO ... TWC has to try dictate terms that no other cable provider has been given by the NFL. Any response I see from TWC reminds of athletes and other people in the public eye that blame others for all their issues. Take a look in the mirror TWC ... give your customers what they want, and maybe make a buck or so less per subscriber. You already are the most expensive cable service (not my opinion ... a documented fact). Don't smokescreen your customers with this-- when we know it's just another way to increase the bottom line, so that those profits can be spread out among the many failing businesses (AOL, etc.) within Time Warner corporate. Don't you realize, that we see through this crap? TWC is getting crushed in the public debate on the NFL Network issue. For once, listen to your customers!!!!!

 

[Hall]

Dude, what I'd rather see is TWC reach into their record profits for this year and provide the NFL Network without a rate increase.

I can't imagine that if you were in business for yourself that you'd not want maximum profits also.... I don't think TW is a charity .... or are they ??