Comcast viewers could lose NFL Network tonight

Football fans who subscribe to Comcast Corp.'s extra-cost sports package seem likely to lose one of their favorite viewing choices at 11:59 tonight - the 24-hour NFL Network.

The two organizations, which have battled publicly and in court, have not reached a new carriage agreement, and the old one expires.

Comcast has asked the National Football League to continue the carriage under terms of the current contract. The NFL has refused and would like Comcast to place the channel on a general-interest tier that does not require viewers to pay the extra $7 a month. About two million people get Comcast's sports package.

Comcast relocated the NFL Network to the sports package in 2007, the Philadelphia cable giant said, when the NFL more than tripled subscription fees. The move saved the cable-TV company an estimated $50 million a year in programming costs. The NFL Network's core programming is eight live NFL games.

"Comcast wants to carry NFL Network, and we have offered to carry it under the terms of our current affiliation agreement while the litigation that the NFL brought against Comcast continues, but the NFL has not accepted our offer," Comcast's Sena Fitzmaurice said in a statement. "We believe our proposed extension is in the best interest of our customers and NFL fans so that they can continue to have the same access to the network that they now enjoy."

The NFL, according to officials and court documents, says it believes Comcast moved the network to a sports package to punish the NFL for not allowing Comcast to carry the eight live NFL games on its Versus sports channel and not allowing Comcast to negotiate for out-of-market NFL games. DirecTV, the satellite provider, exclusively carries the Sunday Ticket of out-of-market NFL games.

"As of right now, the NFL Network will no longer be available at midnight [Thursday] to Comcast," NFL Network spokesman Dennis Johnson said. "We are open to negotiating with Comcast at any time so that fans can watch the NFL Network on a wide level of service at no extra cost."

Richard L. Sippel, the chief administrative law judge at the Federal Communications Commission, recently heard a complaint by the NFL Network against Comcast over the issue. The judge could reach a decision this summer.

The NFL also filed a lawsuit against Comcast in New York state court.