According to the NYT, the NFL agreed to lower the price it charges Comcast in exchange for the cable giant placing the channel on its Digital Classic tier.
"We are very pleased that NFL Network and other N.F.L. content will be widely distributed in millions of more homes on Comcast's service," Roger Goodell, the league's commissioner, said in a statement. Brian L. Roberts, Comcast's chairman, said, "Our goal has always been to provide our digital customers with access to the N.F.L.'s unique content and, working together, we have struck the right balance between value and distribution."
Comcast also got video-on-demand rights and the ability to show DirecTV's Red Zone Channel, also known as the greatest invention in the history of mankind.
(For those of you who don't have Sunday Ticket, the Red Zone Channel is a commercial free channel that's hosted by a guy who watches all the games and switches over whenever anyone is about to score. If I had a choice between food and the Red Zone Channel, I would always pick the Red Zone Channel.)
Time Warner and Cablevision are the last remaining NFL channel holdouts, so cross your fingers.
Comcast Reaches Deal on NFL Network [NYT]
(Photo:Mr. Usaji)
If I had a choice between food and the Red Zone Channel, I would always pick the Red Zone Channel.
We have a shiny new MLS team out here that was doing fantastically.. but a recent game it looked like they were playing a team of those fainting goats, who were rewarded with our team getting the nice colorful cards up the wazoo.
Yes it is in NBA too, and I don't like that sport either, 'cept for WNBA which has a lot less flopping and sometimes the non-starters even get their fingerprints on the ball.
Hey - while we're here, anyone know if it is possible yet to have satellite radio AND be able to get both Baseball and NFL? You know, without having to have 2 stereos? TIA!
]]>@dancing_bear: If watching real men get it on entertains you, that's your business. Just don't go pushing your dancing_bear agenda on me...
]]>@Radi0logy: It's actually not that boring and it's better in Europe for some reason. I think football is much better than "football" (soccer) but I'll watch Manchester United take on Chelsea any time. Now if you want something boring, check out cricket. They have matches that last 7 days and I'm not exaggerating.
]]>@allstarecho: I was in an irish pub watching Rugby the other day. It turns out the NFL guys are a bunch of pu$$|es. Watch rugby to see real men get it on.
]]>@T-Bone (CoCo the Monkey): august 1st if you have digital classic or above.
]]>Football is the only sport you can watch EVERY local team's game over the air. But if you want to watch every baseball game, you have to go to a bar.
]]>The problem is that the cost to deliver 150 different channels, when you figure in programming, delivery, etc. doesn't change if individual consumers are only paying to watch 30 of them. You'd pay the same amount you are today, but would have 120 fewer channels to watch. cristiana mentioned that some channels only cost $.06, but of course they are so cheap because the cable company pays for every user. If only 10% of the users signed up for that channel, the price would likely rise to $.60 and so on.
No the problem isn't the bundling of services, that's just an efficient means of delivery. The problem is that our government continues to allow and even support monopolies, such that most people don't have any real choice. If they want cable they get it from the ONE provider in their area. If there was true competition, prices would come down, and those channels that no-one truly cared about would wither away and die.
]]>COX in southern California is absolutely the best cable option here for sports - the only thing missing is HD versions of the NBA and MLB network... we got HD versions of the NFL, NHL and GOlF networks - but all of them are at least in SD.
]]>Go watch Three Sheets on HULU now!
]]>The proper solution is for every genre of programming to have its own package. Cable service starts with a basic tier of require-carriage broadcasters and local access. Then every genre of programming is on the menu. Want sports? Pay for it and get all the sports channels.
I do agree it's silly to offer ESPN on a common tier and not NFL. Most sports fans will want them all.
I'm not a sports fan, don't care to watch, and don't want to be forced to pay for something I don't want to have. You shouldn't be forced to pay for the channels you don't want. See above and join me promoting the "basic + genre menu" concept, with a mandate in law to come if cable providers keep shafting everyone by charging them for channels they don't want.
]]>Does this count as a sign of the apocalypse?
]]>What is this Ten-Nis you speak of? /Redneck American
]]>Why is it that whenever football is brought up on this or any other Gawker site, the comments are filled with hate? You're always guaranteed to see the following comments:
1. "Blah blah blah dumb jocks, sports iz dumb"
2. "Blah blah blah America football iz dumb. Real football (soccer as you call it) iz the best.
3. "Blah blah blah soccer iz boring. Football rules!"
But I hate #1 more than any other. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean that it's only played/watched by idiots. Get over it.
]]>@TeamSAM: Is that the MOJO channel? If it is, (I had it when I had Comcast) that channel is garbage. I feel your pain.
]]>@allstarecho: Since you're throwing insults at people just because they don't like the same things that you do, I'll join in and say that the NFL Network will be replacing your precious half-naked Anime shows.
I don't like them, so you must be a loser, right?
]]>@rickatnight11: I've got the Tennis Channel on Cox's digital cable in SW Kansas. No HD Tennis Channel, but it's a start.
]]>With digital cable eliminating old bandwidth issues, new channels don't mean they get rid of old ones.
]]>If the cost of sports channels were more in line with the costs from every other channel I would not be complaining as much, sports channels can comprise over 50% of the subscriber costs for basic cable.
]]>In all fairness, we all get channels we have no interest in. There are no kids in my house, yet I get no less than 20 channels with kid programming. I wish I only had one channel on my lineup to bith about.
]]>Why Americans see soccer as a sport for preppy brats, I will never understand :(
]]>I'm hoping TW does this as they will be my cable provider in when I move this summer. Or, I might just have to get DirecTV and see ALL the games.
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