I read this great article in the Wall Street Journal this morning about how the NFL Network is playing hardball with the cable companies who have decided to fight back. Essentially the issue is the NFL Network is requiring cable companies to keep the NFL Network on its regular subscription package (not relegated to the 'sports package') and pay them somewhere close to $0.70 per subscriber to month.
To put that in perspective, its more than a 100% increase over 2006 (from $0.33 to $0.70) and much more per subscriber than well known cable channels such as CNN & MTV.
So the cable companies are beginning to drop NFL Network altogether, which has prompted the network to sue the cable operators and create a site aimed at converting users (IWantNFLNetwork) to satelite provider DirecTV, a key strategic partner of both the NFL Network & NFL.
It sounds like a mess which the NFL Network head Steve Bornstein, former ESPN & ABC head, is fighting head on. He evidently invented the pay more for sports programming, specifically the NFL, and pass the cost on to the cable operators - which results in more coverage, demand and usage of your channel, higher advertising returns without the cost of the programming since its passed on to the larger network.
The mix of sports and business is never pretty but always intriguing. I only hope they can figure this thing out because I'm a fan of NFL Network (hell I'm a fan of anything NFL or football for that matter) and I would hate to see it die b/c of hardball tactics by ego maniacs.
Comments