NFL Network

Evidently the NFL is whining because they are demanding (1) that cable companies put the NFL Network on basic cable, and (2) that the NFL can charge a high permium to the cable companies to do it - comparable to a channel like CNN.

Why is this even an issue? The NFL decided to try and create more demand for their 5-year-old network by scheduling late-season games with the potential to be high-demand games on their own channel, to get consumers complaining about it.

This is one consumer who DOES NOT WANT the NFL Network on basic cable. It's a niche channel. Sure, it has 8 football games a year... but there are 32 teams playing 16 games - 256 matchups each year in the regular season. And the NFL itself makes it hard for many people to watch the games they want - substantially more than 8 - with their broadcast restrictions and exclusive agreement with DirecTV for NFL Sunday Ticket. To watch any game you want, you ahve to have the Sunday Ticket package... and you have to have DirecTV... which means you have to live in a place where you can GET DirecTV.

That the NFL would say one word about restricting access to 8 games (by not placing the NFL Network on BASIC Cable, as it is accessible through a seperate sports tier with most providers), while continuing the Sunday Ticket monopoly is hypocritical beyond belief. Through Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and an average of 3 games per day on CBS and FOX, I have access to 85 games total during the regular season. That means that there are som 170 games I cannot watch without DirecTV. Over 20 times as many games as the non-basic-cable dsitribution of the NFL Network "blocks."

The NFL Network is a seasonal thing, not suited to basic cable. I don't care to watch it in February-August, and I CERTAINLY don't want to pay for it. NFL, feel free to get bent. Your argument should be laughed from the room whenever, and wherever you make it.