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Tuesday, May 19, 2009
NFL and Comcast Finally Strike A Deal

Good news for those of you who are Comcast cable subscribers. The war between Comcast and the National Football League over the NFL Network is over.

Both sides announced this morning that they have reached a new, long-term agreement regarding carriage of the NFL Network. For the last two years, much to the NFL’s chagrin, Comcast has been carrying the NFL Network on its Sports Entertainment tier, which required subscribers to pay an additional monthly fee for it.

The NFL wanted it on Comcast’s digital tier, along with ESPN, Versus, the Golf Channel and other sports networks. It initially was on that tier, but was moved to the sports tier when the NFL began broadcasting live games on the NFL Network and increased its subscriber fee to Comcast.

In exchange for moving the NFL Network back to its basic cable tier, Comcast will receive video on demand for its digital customers and the ability to offer the NFL’s RedZone Channel when it is created. The RedZone Channel will provide live look-ins to NFL games.

The league also has agreed to reduce its subscriber fee.

``We are delighted to have come to an agreement with the NFL,’’ Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts said in a statement. ``Our goal has always been to provide our digital customers with access to the NFL’s unique content and, working together, we have struck the right balance between value and distribution on a variety of viewing platforms. We are looking forward to bringing the NFL’s programming to our customers just in time for the start of the NFL season.’’

The switch back to Comcast’s digital tier will dramatically increase the NFL Network’s subscriber base. It lost more than 6 million subscribers when Comcast switched it to its Sports and Entertainment tier.

 

Posted by Paul Domowitch @ 9:44 AM  Permalink | 21 comments
21
Comments   
Posted 09:49 AM, 05/19/2009
PhillyPhantastico
Can't wait to see the increase in my cable bill. Someone please lay the FiOs lines in my neighborhood already!!
Posted 09:51 AM, 05/19/2009
PhillyPhantastico
Can't wait to see the increase in my cable bill. Someone please lay the FiOs lines in my neighborhood already!!
Posted 10:07 AM, 05/19/2009
roodaddy99
That is so true PhillyPhantastico. That is why I switched to DirecTV. With cable, they will find a way to recoup the money. Even if they raise everyone's bill by say 30 cents a month, they still will be using NFL Network as a catalyst to gouge their customers. So even though NFL Network will be offered, cable can use the back door to get more money.
Posted 10:31 AM, 05/19/2009
Dierte
Just pray Fios comes to your area, that's about all you can do.
Posted 11:03 AM, 05/19/2009
pritter
Can any of you idiots read? The NFL is REDUCING it's subscriber fee. Reduce - to bring down to a smaller extent, size, AMOUNT, NUMBER, etc.:
Posted 11:11 AM, 05/19/2009
psuwelsh
Folks....it is cheaper than going to games, espcially with the ticket fees, the parking fees, the cost of transportation and the cost of beverages/food, etc at the stadiums....see the big picture, please.
Posted 11:44 AM, 05/19/2009
IssueMovement
And correct me if I'm wrong, but no Comcast means no Phillies, Flyers or Sixers games. If that is not a monopoly in our sports obsessed city, I don't know what is.
Posted 12:07 PM, 05/19/2009
realdeal91
Fios carries CSN, but not Comcast Network...so most Phils, Flyers, Sixers games you can see on Fios.
Posted 12:35 PM, 05/19/2009
Dierte
Hey Pritter, before you come out calling everyone else idiots, maybe YOU should read it..."The LEAGUE also has agreed to reduce its SUBSCRIBER FEE." I didn't know COMCAST was a LEAGUE. A Subscriber Fee is what the channel (ESPN, MSNBC, NFL, etc.) charge to provide those broadcasts to the consumers, through Comcast...So Pritter I got a few ideas for what you can do with the dictionary you had to use to type out the definition of REDUCE.
Posted 12:37 PM, 05/19/2009
billro3
Once FIOS comes to my area I will drop Comcast in a heartbeat. The $5 monthly fee that I am paying Comcast for the NFL Network doesn't annoy me as much as it does others. I have the Comcast Triple Play, and my daughters both have the FIOS package of Internet, TV, and Phone. Their TV's have a much more sharper and crisper picture, the internet speed is the same or just a tad slower, no difference in phone service, and their on demand service is much quicker than Comcast. Did I mention that they pay about $50 a month less with FIOS than with Comcast for the exact same options?
Posted 12:38 PM, 05/19/2009
jwad (D)
Fios! Fios!
Posted 12:57 PM, 05/19/2009
Panthro22
Pritter, you must not be a Comcast subscriber. Crookcast will find a way to recoup their monies even IF they are reducing the fee. And I thought the NFL Network were the ones reducing the fee??
Posted 01:15 PM, 05/19/2009
bigeastbeast
If you have a lot of recently arrived Spanish speaking people,you'll be out of luck.Verizon redlines these areas because of the Direct TV cheap Spanish only alternative.
Posted 02:25 PM, 05/19/2009
gogetem
I'll be hooking up to FIOS this summer FOR SURE........see ya C/cast, you've ripped me off long enough.
Posted 03:14 PM, 05/19/2009
montco1
I'm content to watch the games on cable, no need to run down to S. Phila, and pay those prices. Heck, what you pay for parking got you first level seats in the old Spectrum, back in the day. Then again, my parents paid less than .25 to see a movie. Ah, the generational divide. It's all relative, right!
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Les BowenLes Bowen has covered the Eagles for the Daily News since 2002. Before that, he spent nearly 13 years covering the Flyers. It took Les only a few seasons after the switch to figure out that there was no penalty box at the Linc, and that the time really wasn't his, despite what Andy Reid kept saying. Les came to Philadelphia and the Daily News from Charlotte in 1983. In the intervening years, he has pretty much lost track of NASCAR, and his accent. He, his wife Barbara, and their two sons live in Haddon Township, New Jersey.

You can now follow Les Bowen on Twitter.

Paul DomowitchPaul Domowitch has been with the Daily News since 1982. He has spent most of his 27 years at the paper covering the Eagles and pro football. For the last 10 years, he’s been a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A native of Wilkes-Barre and a graduate of Wilkes University, Domo came to the Daily News from the Fort Worth (Tx.) Star-Telegram, where he covered some god-awful Texas Ranger baseball teams. His first beat at the Daily News actually wa s boxing, which he covered just long enough to lose two sports coats to blood spatter before moving on to football. Domo and his wife Shelley, a University of Oklahoma grad and very dangerous to be around following a Sooner loss, have been married 29 years and have raised 2 terrific daughters – Allison, 26, a lawyer and graduate of Boston University School of Law; and Amy, 23, who graduated from Clemson and works in marketing and sales for a professional baseball team.

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