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Cable companies vs NFL Network


rajncajn
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Cable stuffing the NFL this Thanksgiving

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Thanksgiving, a day given to excess, will include a third helping of pro football this year -- but only for a fraction of U.S. homes.

 

When the NFL Network, owned by the National Football League,shows its first live regular season game Thursday evening with the Denver Broncos facing off against the Kansas City Chiefs, only about 13 million of 70 million cable households will be able to see the game.

 

Looks like this issue may take a while to get resolved. I may be looking into Direct TV very soon.

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From the account of the poor quality of the production last night, I think I'll definitely wait before lobbying to have my cable company ask me to pay even more money for yet another option.

 

Valid point from what I have heard (in particular the high pitch of Bryant Gumbel's voice) BUT we rip ESPN and Kornhole every Tuesday...but still watch the game on Monday night. Either way, it is football and it's hard not to watch.

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What happens if you call the cable company and tell them that you are switching to DirecTV because they don't give it to you.

 

Comcast has been very accomodating when I talk to them. They've given me just about anything to keep me as a customer. I haven't paid a full-price bill yet.

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Valid point from what I have heard (in particular the high pitch of Bryant Gumbel's voice) BUT we rip ESPN and Kornhole every Tuesday...but still watch the game on Monday night. Either way, it is football and it's hard not to watch.

 

Good info here. I wouldn't be getting it just for those games either, but it may be that one last thing that pushes me to make the switch. Really the only this holding me back is what a pain in the butt it will be to change the email address that I've had for the past 10 years or so, which I might add I've been able to keep pretty much free & clear of superfluous crap.

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What happens if you call the cable company and tell them that you are switching to DirecTV because they don't give it to you.

 

Comcast has been very accomodating when I talk to them. They've given me just about anything to keep me as a customer. I haven't paid a full-price bill yet.

 

 

Good info here. If you have access to Comcast, I recommend it. I used to have DirecTV and the NFL Ticket, but when I moved into an apartment and couldn't get satellite access, I found that I really didn't miss it that much. I just go to the bar if I really feel the need to watch a specific game. But I DO get the NFL channel, which comes with the expanded digital package, and it's worth it.

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What happens if you call the cable company and tell them that you are switching to DirecTV because they don't give it to you.

 

Comcast has been very accomodating when I talk to them. They've given me just about anything to keep me as a customer. I haven't paid a full-price bill yet.

 

 

 

Its true, you just mention satellite to a comcast phone rep and they have a new set of rules they follow to get or keep you. Last year I read on a satellite HD forum, if you tell the Comcast rep you're thinking of switching back they'll make you an unbelievable deal. I did, and I ended up paying $45 fixed for 30 months for their expanded digital, HD package with HBO.

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Its true, you just mention satellite to a comcast phone rep and they have a new set of rules they follow to get or keep you. Last year I read on a satellite HD forum, if you tell the Comcast rep you're thinking of switching back they'll make you an unbelievable deal. I did, and I ended up paying $45 fixed for 30 months for their expanded digital, HD package with HBO.

 

Doing that (saying I was looking at going to DIRECTV) over a year ago netted me a $70 per month for their full Digital Platinum service...but it was not a walk in the park. That deal just expired for me.

 

With FiOS TV coming soon, I mentioned this to a rep last week, they said I need to call them once it is available and they would work with me. I told her that I would remember that they didn't want to keep me until I was ready to leave. But she went ahead and removed the $6.95 per month fee on the second digital control box we have, it was better than nothing I suppose.

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Really the only this holding me back is what a pain in the butt it will be to change the email address that I've had for the past 10 years or so, which I might add I've been able to keep pretty much free & clear of superfluous crap.

 

Yeah, Spain doesn't email me either.

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I never understood why anyone would choose cable over DirecTV. My sat dish doesn’t go out any where near as often as the cable picture used to and the NFL network is just the icing on the cake. The new DirecTV feature where they replay every game in 30 minutes with no commercials is amazing. It's just snap after snap no waiting for play reviews, commercials, timeouts or anything. If you’re interested in picking up someone off the WW or deciding between 2 guys for a start the next week then you can really study those players thoroughly and not need to rely so much on a fantasy football writer’s opinion. DirecTV and TIVO are a must for me for fantasy. I feel like it totally gives me an advantage over the other owners in my leagues. Not to mention all those games I get to watch in HD every week...amazing. I love technology.

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I work for Comcast and was told a few months ago that we would be dropping NFL Network in order to offer a sport tier. I've heard nothing else on the matter since and hope that it has fell through.

 

I can also tell you that the customer service reps that you talk to on the phone pretty much have the power to do whatever they have to do to keep you as a customer.

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I just found out that I won't get the Pack/Vikes game, because I'm not in either market.

 

I live in Wisconsin, 1 1/2 hours from Minneapolis and 3 1/2 from Green Bay.

 

What market am I in?

I guess it's off to the bar that night.

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I just found out that I won't get the Pack/Vikes game, because I'm not in either market.

 

I live in Wisconsin, 1 1/2 hours from Minneapolis and 3 1/2 from Green Bay.

 

What market am I in?

I guess it's off to the bar that night.

 

I saw that they more narrowly defined the "Home Market" for local broadcast of NFL network games. Local market for most Packer games cover most of Wisconsin, but the "local market" for the NFL network games for the Packers is just Green Bay and Milwaukee. :D

Edited by Big John
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I have Cox Cable and pay an extra $5/mo for a sports tier that includes the NFL network. Well worth that small price...

 

 

I find that very surprising, because the biggest sticking point between the NFL and the cable companies is that the NFL network insists on being carried on the basic tier (in order to gte the most eyeballs and therefore the most advertising dollars), while the cable companies would like to put it on a separate sports tier. Seems like if the NFL: Network caved on this issue with Cox, they'd have to do the same with most if not all other cable companies. You sure you got that right Cap'n?

 

Here's the latest salvo between the NFL and cable on this one, from a trade newsletter of last Wednesday:

Small cable weighed in on issues surrounding carriage of NFL Network, a move that came a day before the channel's Thanksgiving Day's airing of the Broncos/Chiefs match. Matt Polka of the American Cable Association said in a letter sent to NFL Network that the programmer's move to "prohibit consumers from purchasing your network on a tier raises serious concerns." Polka also said the association's members, "who are de facto stewards for our customers in negotiating programming rates and conditions, deserve to give their customers options to purchase or not purchase expensive and exclusive programming such as NFL Network." In response, NFL Network's Seth Palansky said, "While the NFL Network games will be carried by a large number of cable companies, we unfortunately are involved in a commercial dispute with specific cable operators who are acting in their own self-interests - not in the interests of our NFL fans. We will continue to discuss the matter with those cable operators in the hope that the problem can be resolved."

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If you have Hi-Def cable try one of the off channels. Here in the Seattle-Tacoma area, Comcast put the game on the INHD channel (they have also been simulcasting the Sonics games on this channel) and anybody who got HD was able to watch it (my inlaws don't have NFL network but watched the Hi-Def broadcast on the INHD channel.)

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I work for Comcast and was told a few months ago that we would be dropping NFL Network in order to offer a sport tier. I've heard nothing else on the matter since and hope that it has fell through.

 

I find that odd, given that NFL Network is already part of of one of their sports packages.

 

I had DirecTV at my former residence, but had to swtich back to digital cable (Comcast) after I moved into a heavily-wooded area. DirecTV was really nice (especially their customer service people), but couldn't stand the fact that the receiver would lose signal for 15-30 min at a time in heavy rain and/or wind. Digital cable has been much more reliable in my experience, but that tends to vary from region to region. I look forward to the day that I don't need satellite to watch whichever NFL games I want.

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