It's the money, honey.
Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers fans are facing a quandary in the coming weeks: Important games won't be on television for some state residents.
That's because the Packers' Nov. 29 game against the Dallas Cowboys will be broadcast on the NFL Network, and this weekend's Badgers' game against Ohio State is scheduled for the Big Ten Network. Satellite providers have added the networks, but cable companies have said consumers should have to pay more for those networks and haven't been able to reach agreements to add them to their lineups.
In the case of the "NFL Network," it's simple greed on the part of the NFL. What they want from the cable operators for their network is more than the cable operators want to pay.
I'm not a lover of TimeWarner--but in this case, they are right and the NFL is....well...greedy.
Not to worry: your State Legislators will make it all better. They'll probably impose a TV tax.
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You'll be fine. The Milwaukee and GB TV markets are considered home markets, so it will be broadcast ABC or NBC - I forget which. It's just the folks in the Madison and LaCrosse markets that will be up a proverbial creek without a paddle.
Irrelevant.
Doesn't change the NFL's greed.
This is what I know: NFL Network is asking for a mere 70 cents/month/subscriber - for programming that I would guess most people in Wisconsin will want. That is not greed on behalf of the NFL. There are plenty of channels Charter offers that most would happily trade for NFL Network (this is what comes to my mind: Soap Network, Versus, Court TV, and several others), but instead, Charter wants to offer the Network on a special tier. They want to gouge us for even more money - because they know that we want this network and many will give in and pay for it.
Sen. Hansen and Rep. Rhoades are doing us a favor by offering a bill that will put these disputes up to a neutral third-party who will have our sole interests in mind. Smart.
Actually, NFL Network is not satisfied with the commercial revenues now afforded by the networks.
That's why they went Indie with this little test.
You and I may agree that the programming offered by cable is not to our liking, and we will likely agree that cable companies are more than a little greedy, too.
But the NFL is leading the parade here.
This weekend's UW game againts OSU will NOT be on local staions, however. Yes, NFL and BTN are looking for as much money as they can get. So are all the cable networks. Call it greedy if you want, I call it Capitalism. But the cable networks are being dishonest, saying they don't want to pass on the high costs charged by the networks to everyone, just so they can pass on even HIGHER costs to those who will pay for the sports channels, which, will be a large part of the state. I am droping my cable network ( Comcast - I live in Chicago ) and switching to satelite.
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