Comcast and NFL Network

[ice grillin you]

i got an email from the nfl last week basically saying to boycott comcast and switch to direct tv or another tv source because of their surcharge

[Seabiscuit36]

Comcast didnt want to pay the increase, every other outlet did and didnt punish their customers.  Comcast was pissed about the NFL re-upping with DTV, supposedly this was Comcast trying to anger the NFL but cutting away subscribers

http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/faq_comcast

[mussa]

I didn't see any other threads with this in so I thought I'd share my pain. I like NFL Network, regardless of all the crap, it's just another channel where I get to see more football and more other crap. It's really the only sport I can watch on a regular basis. Its bullshtein, comcast is bullshtein. I'm calling and threatening to cancel if they don't give it to me free. you care

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

I'm calling and threatening to cancel if they don't give it to me free.

They'll call your bluff.  You'll hang up the phone angrier but in the exact predicament you were before you called.

[Feva]

You could all just be like me and find a DirecTV hookup, pay $60 a month for EVERYTHING and get the NFL Sunday Package for free.

[Seabiscuit36]

NFL Network Cuts Comcast Deal
The three-year-old NFL Network has quietly cut a deal for this season with Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable operator, to carry its controversial package of eight live football games on terms far weaker than the league is seeking.

Meanwhile, the NFL Network will go dark on Time Warner Cable systems recently acquired from Adelphia Communications in a bankruptcy sale.The Adelphia dispute is part of a larger duel in which the No. 2 cable operator is resisting paying the NFL network's high license fee and carriage demands. Time Warner has said the NFL is looking for a 250% increase in those fees.

When the NFL Network's new eight-game, Thursday-Saturday package kicks off on Thanksgiving, Comcast will air the games on a digital tier available to fewer than one third of its subscribers. The league has been seeking carriage on basic cable, which would be available to nearly all of the operator's 23.3 million subscribers.

While the league is seeking fees in the 70-90 cents per subscriber per month range, according to cable executives, Comcast is paying a significantly lower rate under terms of the current arrangement.Comcast seems to hold more leverage at the moment – it has the right to put the network on a digital sports and entertainment tier that is available to a tiny fraction of its subscribers.

Comcast and NFL Network executives would not comment.


The status of the Time Warner systems is more clear. Time Warner/Adelphia markets "will be dark" in those markets as of early Friday, says the NFL's Seth Palansky.About 1.3 million subscribers will be affected, including those in NFL hotbeds such as Buffalo, Cleveland and Dallas.

While noting the network may pursue some longer-term legal strategies going forward, Palansky says in the short term it will tweak its ad strategy in those markets to drive customers to outlets such as satellite carriers that air the NFL Network.

Time Warner had first removed the network from its lineup on August 1st before the FCC mandated it be put back on for 30 days.An additional 15-day extension was then negotiated, but Friday is its last day.

The NFL is pushing to get its network carried on basic cable packages as it looks to boost penetration after passing on $400 million in annual rights fees it could have commanded by selling the eight games to an outside network (one of the main bidders was Comcast's OLN/Versus).The network is currently in 41 million homes, 27 million of those via satellite carriers.

The NFL has the ability to black out the eight games on any cable carrier not paying an increased surcharge it is demanding

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Yeah, I had Time Warner before DirecTV.  Major penis duel going on there.

[The BIGSTUD]

I didn't see any other threads with this in so I thought I'd share my pain. I like NFL Network, regardless of all the crap, it's just another channel where I get to see more football and more other crap. It's really the only sport I can watch on a regular basis. Its bullshtein, comcast is bullshtein. I'm calling and threatening to cancel if they don't give it to me free. you care

Try saying something like this, it got me 3 free months with Tivo.

Call up Comcast and ask them what you have to do to go about cancelling your service. They will probably ask why you want to cancel, and say you were switching to Verizon FIOS because you weren't satisfied with your current service, and also you wanted the NFL Network but didn't want to pay extra for it because you are on a tight budget. They might tell you they'll be willing to pay for your sports package for a full year, or they might ask you if there is anything they can do to keep you. If they ask then mention the sports tier package.

I did something similar to Tivo and they offered to pay 3 months of my service. I told them I was interested in switching to Comcast DVR because it is cheaper and I'm on a tight budget.

[rjs246]

Or you could not take the advice of a mumbling internet moron. The choice is yours!

[SunMo]

they could probably do a simple check in your area, and when they realize that FiOS isn't availabe, call you a silly cvnt and hang up on you

[ice grillin you]

im gonna tell them theres nothing that can stop me from switching services short of offering me free cable for the rest of MY LIFE!!

thatll get em

[The BIGSTUD]

Fios is available in my area. I was going to wait til the NFL season started though to call and try this because if they do offer a year free I really don't care about the NFLN until the season starts. I really don't care about it until they start airing live games either. That and NFL replays are all I want it for. I can afford the $5/month, but I'm too anti-Comcast to give them the satisfaction of extra money. I've been screwed by them one too many times.

[Susquehanna Birder]

They're laying the Fios lines in my neighborhood right now. And I'm majorly pissed at how they are tearing up the properties.

[rjs246]

Majorly pissed!

[Wingspan]

I'd be pissed about a Chevy Cavalier parked on my street too.