http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6357479.html?display=Breaking+News http://www.latimes.com/sports/football/nfl/la-sp-nfltv2aug02,1,61228.story http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6359150.html?display=Breaking+News http://www.contactmusic.com/news.ns...e warner cable to restore nfl network_1004623 http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601089&sid=appPKjFZBnz8 (All 5 are in order) The NFL Network is going on the offensive against cable operators with an acid-tongued consumer-marketing push. It aims to parlay its new package of NFL regular-season games into improved carriage across the country. The 33-month-old network, still without a slot on such systems as Time Warner, Cablevision and Charter, says it could spend as much as $100 million, depending on how long its current disputes with cablers carry on. NFL owners, who passed up an estimated $400 million in rights fees to use the games to grow the network, are eager to get NFL Network in as many homes as possible. Currently in about 41 million homes, it hopes to boost that number by more than 50% this year and eventually top 90 million. The NFL says talks are not progressing as the season nears—its 52-game package of preseason games kicks off Aug. 11—so it is executing an aggressive campaign to get rabid fans to demand their football fix. The campaign will span television, print and radio as well as NFL resources including in-stadium giant screens, and team assets such as Websites and coach shows. The ads will attempt to drive consumers to a telephone number that will route calls to the local cable carrier by area code. "The full weight of the NFL marketing machine will be used," says NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky. The consumer push will use taglines "Don’t let Time Warner ruin your football season" and "Don’t let Charter shut you out." Beginning this week, the NFL will blitz targeted markets like football-crazed Green Bay (a Time Warner market), Tampa Bay (Bright House) and St. Louis (Charter). Another battleground is the New York market, where Time Warner has 4.5 million customers but only 18,000 subscribe to the digital sports tier, home to the NFL Network. The NFL is also preparing for a battle when Time Warner takes over the Adelphia systems July 31. Time Warner is expected to drop it from basic cable in such markets as Cleveland and Buffalo. The package of regular-season games that begins Nov. 23, as well as other recently acquired properties, including college post-season games, has spurred growth for the network. Recently, NFL negotiated upgraded packages on both Dish Network and Verizon’s FiOS television service, as well as a new carriage deal with AT&T’s U-Verse service.
Time Warner Cable pulled the NFL Network out of its lineup without warning Tuesday because of a fee dispute, taking the network away from at least 1.6 million households in the Los Angeles area. In turn, NFL Network on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, asking that Time Warner be required to restore a carriage agreement for 30 days. The network contends that when Time Warner abruptly dropped it from its programming, federal rules were violated. ADVERTISEMENT The move against the league-owned network comes one day after Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. completed the purchase of Adelphia Communications Corp., which had filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002. With the purchase, Time Warner now controls Adelphia's 1.1 million cable households in the L.A. region and, in an asset swap, Comcast's 500,000 households here. A number of these subscribers were unhappy about losing NFL Network, which this season will offer 52 preseason games and eight regular-season games. Richard Medina of Buena Park, previously an Adelphia subscriber, was one of them. "We get a channel that shows us how to hang wallpaper, but we can't get a channel that televises preseason NFL games," Medina said, adding that he had been looking forward to seeing former USC stars Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart with their NFL teams. Time Warner Cable, which had been servicing 360,000 homes in the L.A. market, has been unable to come to terms on a carriage agreement, contending NFL Network is asking for a 350% fee hike, mostly for the new eight-game package that kicks in Thanksgiving Day. NFL Network denies the fee hike is that high, although spokesman Seth Palansky declined to discuss numbers. He said the crux of the dispute, instead, is Time Warner's desire to put NFL Network on a digital pay tier. The network is demanding it be allowed to remain part of the basic cable package to reach as many households as possible. A wider distribution enables NFL Network to charge more for advertising. With Monday's merger, Time Warner, Charter and Cox now control the majority of the L.A. cable market — 52% of 5.3 million households. DirectTV and Dish Network control the satellite market, which represents 28%. NFL Network also does not have a carriage deal with Charter, but does with the other three. Nationally, the 2 1/2 -year-old network has been able to reach agreements with cable and satellite companies that reach 65 million of the 91 million pay-television households. There are 26 million U.S. homes serviced by cable companies that don't have a deal with NFL Network, and 15 million are Time Warner homes. Patti Rockenwagner, a spokeswoman for Time Warner Cable in L.A., said her company would like to reach a deal. "We have offered to carry NFL Network on our sports tier, similar to the way the network has been offered to many Comcast and Adelphia customers in the past," she said. "What NFL Network is asking for is a 350% increase in rates for [essentially] eight games. That's not a reasonable value for our customers. "Our customers will still be able to watch more than 100 regular-season games on CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN — all available in high definition," she said. "Of the preseason games NFL Network is offering, 87% are on tape delay." Indeed, of the 52 preseason games — the first of which airs Aug. 11 — only six will be carried live, but only because the network cannot show more than one game at a time. Nineteen will be in high definition. There also will be midweek replays of four games — two on Tuesdays and two on Wednesdays — plus its usual round-the-clock NFL-related programming. Said Palansky of Time Warner, "This is a company that is desperate to divert the issue of removing a channel you subscribed to without any advance notice." Neither Palansky nor Rockenwagner would discuss the subscriber fees NFL Network is asking, but the Sports Business Journal said the fees have gone from 25 to 35 cents per subscriber per month to 85 to 95 cents, and that there is a $2 surcharge for cable companies such as Time Warner that want to put the network on a digital pay tier. Palansky said the network's West Coast headquarters in Culver City was swamped with complaints. The Times also received a number of complaint calls. Medina, the former Adelphia subscriber, said he got a message on Channel 178, which previously carried NFL Network, that in part read: "Nice to meet you. Hello, my name is Time Warner Cable." And there was a scroll that told viewers the NFL Network was "asking you to pay a premium for eight out-of-market games you got free last year. We are negotiating a deal for you." Les Haan of Bellflower, previously a Comcast subscriber, said Channel 244 on his system began running a warning from NFL Network on Saturday. Haan said he called Time Warner on Tuesday to complain, but got no satisfaction. "DirecTV is coming to install a new system on Saturday," he said. "Time Warner just lost a customer."
Yet another cleat has dropped in the battle between Time Warner Cable and the NFL Network. The cable operator has launched a website, www.nflgetreal.com, to drive consumers to tell the NFL they want the network on a sports tier. On the new site under the headline of “The NFL is out of step with the public,” Time Warner says of the NFL: “They cannot control their costs and they stick fans with the tab. They even want non-fans to pay for NFL Network.” The site also reads: “In markets that already have the NFL Network, they are asking for a 350 percent increase for adding eight regular season games - games that were available to our customers last year - out of 267. This is a poor value proposition - even for fans. The NFL Network is telling fans that they will miss these games but they are wrong - our customers will not miss ANY of the home team’s games.” The site has an online form customers can fill out that it says will tell the NFL to "get real." The website launch comes as the FCC Thursday ordered Time Warner to reinstate the NFL Network on the systems it has newly acquired from Adelphia and Comcast until the FCC can act on an NFL petition for an emergency ruling on their carriage dispute. While not prejudging the outcome, the FCC said the NFL had a sufficient likelihood of prevailing to warrant the temporary restoration of the network. It also comes after the NFL Network went on offense against cable operators with an acid-tongued consumer-marketing push. The 33-month-old network, still without a slot on such systems as Time Warner, Cablevision and Charter, said last week it could spend as much as $100 million, depending on how long its current disputes with cablers carry on. NFL owners, who passed up an estimated $400 million in rights fees to use the games to grow the network, are eager to get NFL Network in as many homes as possible. Currently in about 41 million homes, it hopes to boost that number by more than 50% this year and eventually top 90 million. The NFL said last week that talks are not progressing as the season nears—its 52-game package of preseason games kicks off Aug. 11—so it is executing an aggressive campaign to get rabid fans to demand their football fix. The campaign will span television, print and radio as well as NFL resources including in-stadium giant screens, and team assets such as Websites and coach shows. The ads will attempt to drive consumers to a telephone number that will route calls to the local cable carrier by area code. "The full weight of the NFL marketing machine will be used," says NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky. The consumer push will use taglines like "Don’t let Time Warner ruin your football season." The two sides are at odds as the NFL Network looks to keep itself off of the digital sports tier on which Time Warner wants to place the network. The NFL says that monthly fees are not at issue, the differences are over where the network would be carried, either in expanded basic or on a separate tier. The NFL is said to be asking $100 million for the package, or in the neighborhood of 90 cents per sub per month. If so, that is high by cable network standards. At the highest end, ESPN gets three dollars a sub, but the bulk of top tier cable nets are in the 20 cent-50 cent range. diff article Just days after bouncing the NFL Network from the cable systems it acquired from Adelphia and Comcast, Time Warner Cable has been ordered by the FCC to restore the network to those cable outlets. The FCC indicated that Time Warner Cable may have violated FCC rules by dropping the network without giving its subscribers a 30-day notice that it was doing so. The commission's decision said that "each day Time Warner customers go without the NFL Network significantly and irreparably harms many of them, particularly those in Buffalo, Cleveland, and Dallas, each of which is home to an NFL team." Time Warner does not carry the NFL network on its other cable systems.
Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Federal Communications Commission denied Time Warner Cable's request for a delay in reinstating the NFL Network on some recently acquired cable systems. Time Warner Cable, the second-largest U.S. cable operator, asked the FCC to stay a decision reached by the commission last week, ordering the Time Warner Inc. unit to put NFL Network back on systems acquired from Adelphia Communications Corp. and Comcast Corp. Time Warner had removed the NFL Network on Aug. 1, saying negotiations over terms for carriage failed. The NFL Network had complained that Time Warner acted without giving the required 30-day notice to subscribers. The FCC found that the NFL's complaint had ``a substantial likelihood of success,'' and today said it would stand by its original order. ``Time Warner's subscribers have paid their bills for August with the expectation that they will be able to view the NFL Network,'' wrote the FCC, adding that if the order is delayed, ``those expectations would be thwarted.'' Shares of Time Warner, the world's largest media company, fell 18 cents to $16.38 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. They have declined 6.1 percent this year. NFL Network was put back on the air last week. Today Time Warner said the FCC's decision violates its right to free speech, and said the company was ``evaluating our options.'' Channel Reinstated ``Time Warner Cable continues to believe that the FCC has misconstrued the notice rules and has ordered a remedy that is in clear violation of the First Amendment,'' according to a statement e-mailed by company spokesman Mark Harrad. Time Warner has also notified subscribers via a message carried on some channels that the NFL Network will be pulled from the channel lineup in 30 days. The NFL Network plans to show 54 preseason games and eight regular-season primetime games this season. ``We commend the FCC's latest swift and thorough action in response to this matter,'' the NFL Network said in an e-mailed statement. ``We plan to continue discussions with Time Warner about the long-term carriage of NFL Network.''
So the NFL Network is owned by the 32 owners of the NFL, and they want to charge their fans extra money to watch THEIR teams play on Television. GREAT!
Can someone please explain to me why Crap Warner flat out refuses to carry the NFL Network? Despite numerous calls, letters, & e mails, I am unable to get a straight answer out of any of the dopes that work there. The last time I called last week, some guy who sounded like he was drunk told me TWC will probably never carry the NFL Network because (globber blabble shizzle- mumbling these untelligible noises). 5 prayer channels, 26 home shoppping channels, a friggin golf channel for god's sakes, public access garbage on at least 5 channels that NOBODY WANTS OR WATCHES, hindu tv, 45 spanish channels, Sleep-Span(C-Span) on 2 or 3 channels, chinavision, Korean vision, Greek TV, a food channel, a soap opera network, just to mention a few of thew nonsensical useless channels that we are forced to pay for with Crap-Warner. If you add Roadrunner Internet, plus all movie channels the bill comes to $192 per month. $192 per month for this s**t and I still can not get the NFL network. TWC should be called Time Warner Communist Cable. Why can't I choose whether or not I want to pay for the NFL network? This is an unmitigated disgrace.
I thought NFL Network was part of the Sunday Ticket thing. I really don't think it's the cats pajamas. No offense, it's ok, but it's not really anything to get excited about. -X-
In defense of the cable companies they don't want the NFL network because they have to pay for the network. They have offered to place it in their sports tier but the NFL network refuses. So both sides are being asses and the consumer loses.
