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Nobody Budging on Time Warner-NFL Network Tiff
Berkshire Eagle, 09/06/2007
The NFL Network will conclude its second season of televising live games on Dec. 29 when the New England Patriots play at the New York Giants. There might be a playoff berth at stake. Or home-field advantage for the postseason.
But unless there is real movement in negotiations between Time Warner Cable and the NFL Network, that game won't be seen on cable television in Berkshire County.
That's because the NFL Network and Time Warner have yet to come to an agreement on a contract that would determine where the NFL Network would appear on Time Warner's cable systems.
At issue: Time Warner's position remains that placement of the NFL Network on the cable system's sports tier would be the best place for the network. The Time Warner sports tier on digital cable costs local customers an extra $1.95 per month beyond standard programming and includes the NBA Network, College Sports Television (CSTV), SpeedChannel and the Tennis Channel.
NFL Network executives want their channel on standard cable.
"I'm aware that discussions are happening. Having said that, our position really remains the same," said Peter Taubkin, Time Warner Cable's vice president of government relations and public affairs in its Albany, N.Y., office. "We've always wanted to carry the network. We believe the fairest and best way to do it is on the sports tier. That remains our position and our hope. We feel that's the best way to make that programming available to those customers who would choose to pay for it.
"Unfortunately," Taubkin continued, "the NFL Network doesn't seem to be agreeable to that position."
NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky agreed the two sides don't share the same thoughts.
"We extended an olive branch. They took the branch and snapped it," he said. "They weren't interested in supplying the channel. We've been talking to them for four years."
Time Warner is the primary cable-television source in Berkshire County, though some pockets of the county receive their cable TV from Charter Communications. Charter also does not have an agreement with the NFL Network, which began televising live league games in 2006.
This year, the network will show eight games, all on Thursdays or Saturdays, beginning on Thanksgiving. In addition to live games, the NFL Network carries live team news conferences, shows highlights, and airs news programs. This year, NFL Network will rebroadcast as many as five edited games from the previous Sunday.
"We're looking at water cooler games or a small game nobody saw," Palansky said. "Seventy percent of NFL fans are displaced. They're not in the cities of their favorite teams."
The NFL Network can be seen by 43.8 million households, up 10 percent from a year ago. According to the network, Time Warner is the only leading cable or satellite provider not carrying the NFL Network on a network's regular channel lineup.
Palansky said Cox Communications and Comcast Cable, two of the top three cable providers in the United States, have the NFL Network on a regular digital tier.
"They believe we should be a pay-extra channel," Palansky said of Time Warner. "We believe it should be more strongly distributed than that."
Taubkin said Time Warner will continue to pursue an agreement with the NFL Network. He would not say if cable costs would increase if there is an agreement.
"You look at NBA TV, and they have 96 live games," Taubkin said. "They certainly see the wisdom of being on a sports tier. Here you're talking about eight games that, just two years ago, were available on other networks. It's never been a question of do we want to carry the channel — we certainly do."
"It can be solved," said the NFL Network's Palansky. "We're exhausting all avenues to settle it."
The question is: Will there be an agreement by Thanksgiving?