Comcast to NFL Network: stop coaxing customers away... or else

It's no secret that Comcast and the NFL Network don't have the rosiest of relationships, and now that Comcast won a ruling (that's being appealed, to no one's shock) over what tier the channel was being placed on, the carrier has shot out a cease and desist letter demanding the network stop persuading customers to switch providers. Reportedly, the note contends that the channel's iwantnflnetwork.com "violates the contract between the network and Comcast," as it coaxes customers to ponder switching with a message reading "Switch to a TV provider that will bring you NFL Network, not hold you hostage." The NFL Network has responded by stating that the arguments are "without merit," and even proclaimed that users dropping Comcast "did not need encouragement from them." Apparently, the cable operator is calling for the network to "confirm in writing" that it has halted its attempts to influence consumers by Friday, but a spokeswomen said she "didn't want to speculate what the company would do if its demands were not met." Ooh, that'll show 'em.

[Thanks, Ryan G.]

[CJJ @ Nov 21st 2007 12:30PM]

Comcast = evil

[Ghen @ Nov 21st 2007 7:43PM]

Comcast or Microsoft.. Well at least bill gates has a charity, so I'll go with Comcast as the most hated company by its consumers.

[tadmarketing @ Nov 21st 2007 12:36PM]

Well so this little spat, and not to mention Comcasts sky high monthly fees, if you are a football fan you should just go with Direct TV or something and call it done (even if Direct TV has terrible customer service).
http://www.tekbite.com/2007/11/oh-internet-pessimists.html

[riggs @ Nov 21st 2007 12:37PM]

Word NFL, why do something that Comcrap has been doing so good in the first place?

[Ty @ Nov 21st 2007 12:38PM]

There is a clash next week between two potential 10-1 teams on that network which may be the consumers boiling point because most of the country won't be able to see it. Thank goodness I live locally to my Cowboys. Oh btw I have Time Warner who are also at odds with the NFLN.

[ron @ Nov 30th 2007 4:04AM]

It's not Time Warner, it's the GREEDY NFL network...they want billions of dollars for EIGHT games a year...screw those greedy millionaires.

Do YOU want to absorb the cost that Time Warner would have to pony up to the NFL Network for a few lousy games a year? ...for a bunch of overpaid athletes.

If I were Time Warner I would not pay either. NFL Network could offer it as a Pay-Per-View and stop being so greedy.

BTW...I love the Cowboys, but have you read how much the tickets costs are going up? And you gotta be a millionaire to afford season tickets now...someone has to pay for their fancy new stadium....we lose...not them. They are pricing themselves out of the hearts of the average person.

No thanks!

[Gadgie @ Nov 21st 2007 12:41PM]

Comcast seems to have the better case to me. NFL is definitely trying to get people to switch.

[Ari @ Nov 21st 2007 12:43PM]

i know comcast sucks, and i pay an extra $15 to get an extra packages which includes HD channels for ESPN, ESPN 2, Nat Geo, TBS, TBS and a bunch of others, including the NFL Network. This channel is the best thing on TV. Sunday NFL TIcket is cool but not everyone has time to watch 16 games on a sunday, but this channel gives games replayed throughout the week, good coverage, and now the thursday games. I hope comcast doesnt lose this channel.

[rene siller @ Nov 21st 2007 1:33PM]

I agree with Comcast on this, and I'm a football fan. Why should the NFL Network be placed on a tier of channels for everyone to pay? Not everyone likes football.
Now we're all going to get screwed!!

[Jeremy @ Nov 21st 2007 1:43PM]

Oh please, that is the worst argument you could possibly make. What percentage of the population watches things like Oxygen, Lifetime, the outdoor network (horray we can watch the lumberjack challenge!), or the large number of spanish channels, yet we are all stuck paying for them. I find it hard to believe that these channels get more viewers than NFL network would.

[riggs @ Nov 21st 2007 2:10PM]

large number of spanish channels?

[Ari @ Nov 21st 2007 2:36PM]

a 'la carte pricing doesnt work. one reason is many channels would be forced to go off the air.

[TonyB @ Nov 21st 2007 2:40PM]

Yeah...I have comcrap too, and I get like 40-some hispanic channels that I will never watch... Comcast should worry more about the 5 days and 4 canceled or no show appointments I've had in the last week. They are the worst company,cable tv or otherwise I've dealt with in my 35 years of buying any product or service. THE WORST

[rob @ Nov 21st 2007 6:02PM]

Comcast is not dumb the people that want sports will pay the price those that don't will complain. When you look at the fact the NFL net is charging $.70+ a sub I can see why they moved it up, the costs would be crazy. If the NFL net would lower their fees I am sure they could get into a reducded teir. Look at what the NBA Network did....

[FourStringPhunk @ Nov 21st 2007 4:09PM]

A la carte doesn't work because a bunch of channels would go off the air? Isn't that the whole point of capitalism? You don't want it, you don't pay for it. I think we should all have to pay to get scabies.

[Ari @ Nov 21st 2007 6:29PM]

you can call it capitalism, but the truth is many niche channels only exist because parent channels keep them alive, even though viewership doesn't necessarily say its worth it. not all the espn channels are profitable but the main ones keep the others alive, so many are able to watch something which wouldn't exist otherwise. I'm not saying it shouldn't be a la carte, but there would be a lot of unhappiness when people lose availability to channels they want and they would regret it. alternatively many channels would cost 5 each per month or so according to a study i read and many people would end up paying the saying amount as they do now, but without all the options. i am all for free market choice, but instead of switching to only a la carte, or leaving as it is, other options such as iptv and computer tv options shold be explored.

[Billy @ Nov 21st 2007 12:55PM]

I blame the NFL network more than Comcast. I love football, but the NFL (as an organization) is a horrible greedy bitch. NFL network wants to be included in the "standard" tier instead of an extras tier so more people watch it, hey sounds good, but wait - in exchange, they also want more money from Comcast. You can't have both, NFL. I think Comcast has the right to put them in a tier that costs more money if the NFL is demanding more money than they deserve. Of course, that means I don't currently get this channel, because Comcast's pricing is ridiculous. That sucks, because I would like this channel, but I understand.

[YouFaceTheTick @ Nov 21st 2007 1:20PM]

NFL's eventual plan is to push Fox, CBS, NBC and ESPN out of all game coverage. There's no logical reason for the NFL to have others carry games and make profits off commercials with the NFL can use its money and stature to create their own network that will eventually show all the games.

Makes sense to be creator and carrier of the content...why give away that money?

[Maestro @ Nov 21st 2007 1:48PM]

errr...the logical reason is because fox, cbx, espn, nbc pony up over a billion (you read that right) of dollars to carry the games.

[YouFaceTheTick @ Nov 21st 2007 2:33PM]

Fox et al pay a billion bucks a year because they make more than that on revenue from the advertising. Eventually, the NFL wants all of the ad dollars for themselves. They create, they distribute, they collect ad revenue and it's all theirs. The networks are dying but until the NFL N is built up there is no reason to abandon them.

[rndmnme @ Nov 21st 2007 12:56PM]

How about both cable providers and the NFL network stop sucking so hard. While you're at it, somebody tell the Big10 network they're a bunch of pompous idiots as well.

[BdgBill @ Nov 21st 2007 12:57PM]

Damn! Can Comcast possibly get any more evil??

My Cable/Internet/Phone is through Videotron in Montreal and I couldn't be happier (unless it was cheaper).

[Alex K. @ Nov 21st 2007 12:58PM]

usually everyone hates comcast, but screw the NFL network. all they want to do is pull the carpet under the networks and espn, and that's why they want to be a legitimate basic cable channel.

they don't deserve to be. the nfl network has the worst games with the worst production and commentators out of all nfl broadcasters. all they want to do is establish a monopoly and lose what the nfl considers middlemen, but in reality these are the networks that are making nfl games so great to watch on TV.

[big daddy kool @ Nov 21st 2007 1:07PM]

Comcast is upset because they don't own a piece of the NFL Network they way they do the upcoming and on the basic tier MLB Channel. It's an arguement over who the tallest midget is.

[John @ Nov 21st 2007 1:14PM]

This coming from the NFL who makes you have dirct tv to get the sunday ticket? Isn't that ironic

[big daddy kool @ Nov 21st 2007 1:45PM]

Comcast did have their chance at getting a piece of the Sunday Ticket depending on who's view they either put in an after the fact bid to save face or where out bid a few years ago.

[YouFaceTheTick @ Nov 21st 2007 1:18PM]

DTV is the only option if you're an NFL fan anyway...nobody else has sunday ticket.

We live on the NFLN as the they're the only channel with real coverage of NFL games/players and they're the only channel with a decent staff. ESPN's NFL coverage is horrendous with idiots like Emmitt Smith babbling incoherently. Don't even get me started on CBS and their illiterate batch of morons (Shannon Sharpe's career on TV is incomprehensible). Flipside, Terrell Davis, Rich Eisen, Rod Woodson, Jamie Dukes...these are real commentators who can speak clearly and have honest and informed opinions.

[eugene @ Nov 21st 2007 1:24PM]

I swear, if I didn't have two huge trees block my LOS to the satellites, i would drop comcrap in a heartbeat and go with directTV or hell, anybody else.

[Eric @ Nov 22nd 2007 11:14AM]

So get a 2 meter dish.

[PEZ @ Nov 21st 2007 1:27PM]

comcast sucks by definition. Give me ala carte, byotch.

[caligirl @ Nov 21st 2007 2:44PM]

Who cares if the NFL gets the advertising money as apposed to other networks? NFL Network offers a chance to watch my team, even though it isn't in my "area"! NFL Network should get to be a basic cable channel if they want it to be; COMCAST turning a profit on the fact that people want the channel is deplorable.

[alan @ Nov 21st 2007 3:06PM]

Greed is good. Greed works. Greed will save the NFL.

[coop @ Nov 21st 2007 3:26PM]

If NFL really had the public interest in mind, it could make a deal with OTA DTV stations to use a local television station's multi-cast digital channel in each market. It would be FREE to the consumer (i.e. over-the-air television). However, NFL would not obtain any subscription fees and would have to "live" off of one revenue stream - commercials.

[TheKing @ Nov 21st 2007 3:48PM]

I want NFL.TV that works just like MLB.TV

...oh and NBA.TV while they're at it.

[David @ Nov 21st 2007 4:02PM]

this is why i don't have comcast and never will. Where i live my ONLY option is comcast and i refuse to have it. I'd rather NOT have tv.

[RC @ Nov 21st 2007 4:09PM]

Why don't all you sportsfans just boycott the NFL until it is back on the networks where they belong. They make enough in advertising and merchandising anyway. Time to tell these greedy bastiches there is a limit. The're doing right by the "screw Comcast" thing now they should say "screw DirectTV" and go back to NBC, ABC or CBS. Nothing good is on those networks in any case.....

And while you're at it, why not put MLB, the "National Sport" on PBS. They have the best HD on the air anyways.......

[ben @ Nov 21st 2007 5:37PM]

"Switch to a TV provider that will bring you NFL Network, not hold you hostage." Wow comcast does this exact thing over a station that carries local college football.

[Scottq= @ Dec 2nd 2007 7:58PM]

The truth:

NFLN wants .70 per subscriber. BTN wants 1.10

CONcast reality:

We don't want our to cut into our over excessive profits for 1.70 per customer. Besides, WE know what you really want to watch. TRUST US!!

Apparently, CONcast, although they say their pro comsumer, doesn't want to give you choice unless it's on their terms.

Sounds like old MA BELL to me.

[RC @ Dec 3rd 2007 12:20AM]

Well the package I have with Comcast has every channel...... Plus Comcast has been running ads that you can add the Sports Entertainment Package for only $1.99 a month. That's not asking a lot for 20+ channels including NFL Network.

Don't blame companies like Time Warner completely. The NFL insists on cablecos placing the channel on the basic tier. Comcast did, it isn't now, and NFL network still has a carriage agreement with Comcast.

Let them charge extra for the channel.