In his annual “State of the NFL” press conference at the Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the league would be increasing the number of games aired on Thursday nights on the NFL Network to 13 in the 2012 season. NFL Network is only available to fans with some cable and satellite carriers, whom the network reportedly charges around 81 cents per subscriber.
This is very troubling. Many fans will be able to see even fewer NFL games because they don’t have cable or satellite service or the right cable or satellite service. Moreover, the costs of airing these games on the NFL Network will be passed on to fans who do have cable and satellite service. Given the enormous popularity of NFL football, there is absolutely no need for any games to be broadcast solely on cable or satellite TV. The NFL’s decision to move games to cable is drive by its desire to make lots of money from ESPN and from its own NFL Network.
In comments about Sports Fans Coalition’s petition to the FCC asking the agency to review its 36-year-old blackout rule, National Association of Broadcasters Executive Vice President Dennis Wharton stated: “If you want to hasten the migration of marquee sports to pay TV, this is the petition for you…At least the NFL is the one sports league that keeps marquee games on over-the-air TV.” It would seem the NAB should look no farther than its corporate bedfellow, the NFL, if it wants to know who’s hastening the migration of games to pay TV…
As a Cablevision subscriber, Jim Dolan continues to deny us the NFL Network. Isn’t it terrible when a billionaire owner and cable owner and a billionaire league (the NFL) can’t get it together for the benefit of fans? The last I figured, it’s the fans that stuff their pockets with their billions. When will the masses wake up and realize that only a strong sport fan’s advocacy group can change the landscape of sports?