Though the National Football League offered up a free week of NFL Network programming to the New York division of Time Warner Cable, subscribers in Lincoln are not able to take advantage of the deal that would allow them to see a pair of bowl games involving teams from the Big 12 Conference.Earlier this month, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that the league would offer the NFL Network free to Time Warner Cable and another provider, Cablevision, from Dec. 24 to Dec. 30. That would allow customers to see Kansas State play Rutgers in the Texas Bowl tonight and Minnesota against Texas Tech in the Insight Bowl Friday night.
The state's two largest newspapers, the Omaha World-Herald and the Lincoln Journal Star, both published a story out of New York stating that Time Warner had reached an agreement with the NFL to carry the network on its digital service for the week.
But that agreement only applied to Time Warner Cable subscribers in the New York area, said TWC Public Affairs Manager Ann Shrewsbury.
NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky said the network offered the free preview to New York-area subscribers "to appease the New York residents who don't have a choice."
"There's a lot of high-rises and apartment buildings in New York that don't have the ability to get service," Palansky said.
Further complicating the issue for people in Lincoln was a news story that aired this morning on radio station KTGL (92.9 FM) saying tonight and tomorrow's bowl games on the NFL Network would be available to Time Warner Cable subscribers.
Shrewsbury said Time Warner Cable would like to carry the NFL Network, but the price ($137 million) is too high. The cost would have to be passed down to individual subscribers, raising rates to carry a channel that is not one of the top 25 cable networks, according to independent cable ratings systems.
"We don't feel like every customer should have to pay for this extremely high-priced programming," Shrewsbury said. "The eight games the NFL is carrying are the same ones that people got to see for free last year. Now they're making people pay for them and that cost is passed down to the individual subscriber."
That cost, Shrewsbury said, would be greater than some of the most popular cable networks currently available to TWC subscribers.
Time Warner Cable has received so many inquiries about the NFL Network issue that it has established its own informational website, www.nflgetreal.com.
"We encourage people to go on there and voice their opinion to the NFL," Shrewsbury said.
3 comments:
Isn't the next question, which I see TWC didn't answer, is why then Cox subscribers get the NFL Network at no extra cost if they already have the digital tier and why satelite providers also provide the station for no extra cost on DirectTv? I cannot see how TWC can get away with saying that the cost would be so prohibitive but yet their rivals seem to have the ability to get the very same network at a lower cost.
I went to their "fact" website and don't see many "facts" that I agree with. They assert that "Our customers will not miss ANY home games. The NFL Network is only carrying eight games‚ and if your local team is playing in one of them, you’ll see that game on a local broadcast station." Well, I sure didn't get the local broadcast of the Kansas City Chiefs the other week which would be considered our "home market team." Anohter "fact" "Time Warner Cable is trying to protect its customers from wholesale price increases across the board. That is why we want to put the NFL Network on a sports tier‚ so only our customers who want this high–priced product will have to pay for it." The truth is that other satelite and cable systems offer it at no extra cost to their subscribers. Another "fact" from TWC: "For years we have been working hard to hold the rate of growth on our programming costs, particularly the spiraling costs of sports programming. As a result, our customers have seen a decrease in the percentage of their rate increases." I love the lawyer language..."a decrease in the percentage of their rate increases." Translation, your rates have gone up, yet, I do not get the services I want...but they will give you another shopping network.
In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to listen to the game on Sirius since TWC is denying me my opportunity to watch it in Lincoln. Thanks for nothing TWC!
The ultimate answer to this issue is to make all cable channels ala-carte, and let you pick and choose which ones you want to pay for. I've seen reports that the NFL is asking $8 / year per subscriber for the NFL Network. Just because Cox and DirecTV is bundling that cost in a package doesn't make it right.
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