Only be sorry for him if he goes back to her!
Posted on 01/28/2006 5:20:39 AM PST by abb
The National Football League has decided to televise a package of games on Thursday and Saturday nights starting next season on its own cable channel, rather than selling the package to another network.
The decision Friday came after talks ended with Comcast Corp. on a joint venture that would have placed the eight late-season games on the company's OLN network or created a new sports network, people familiar with the talks said.
The games mark the first time the league has ventured outside of its traditional Sunday and Monday nights for a regular television package. Industry executives had estimated the value of the Thursday-Saturday games at about $400 million.
By keeping the games in-house, the NFL foregoes that income. But it also instantly increases the value of its NFL Network, which debuted two years ago and shows old games, highlights and other original nongame programming. An NFL spokesman declined to comment.
"Live games changes the value of the NFL Network to the cable companies because their subscribers are going to insist on it," says Marc Ganis, a sports consultant who has worked with the NFL. "You've moved it from a highlights channel to one that has must-have programming."
The NFL Network is available in about 30 million homes, mostly on a premium digital programming tier. The league now is expected to ask cable operators to make the channel part of their basic services. That could triple the number of homes in which the channel is seen. In addition to appearing on the NFL Network, the eight Thursday and Saturday games also are expected to air on broadcast television in the participating team's markets.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Give me the playoffs on Sunday Ticket!
And quit blacking out the games I want to see!
Only be sorry for him if he goes back to her!
Yes, there is such a thing as too much football. All of it on Sunday afternoon.
If you spread it out across the week that makes the NFL channel practical. For instance, what of people who have moved and still want to follow their old teams ?
I want to still follow the Giants. If they could play in midweek, so expatriate New Yorkers from all over the country could watch, that would be great.
Yes, its called the Pro Bowl.
[Middle English verite, truth, from Old French, from Latin vrits, from vrus, true; see wr-o- in Indo-European roots.]
Just wanted to know where you stood before I invite you to the Super Bowl cookout! You want chicken, moose or squirrel?
Hey, Rocky, Bender wants us to come to the Super Bowl cookout!
We already see the rumblings of this with the TiVo, video iPod and podcasting. Instead of the lowest common denominator crap that we get with broadcasting, we will get narrowcasting to the extreme. If you are a ski nut, there will be channels dedicated entirely to skiing. If you are a weather weenie and can't get enough of studying the GFS models and isobars, you will soon have endless amounts of this nerdy stuff at your fingertips and you'll never have to suffer with "The Weather Channel" again.
All the major technology companies see this tidal wave of change coming and they are investing heavily in set-top boxes and computers that will filter this immense amount of data and deliver to you the content that you really want. Microsoft. Apple. Google. Yahoo! All these companies and many more will be the new media conglomerates.
You will soon have virtually all media ever created available to you on demand. You want to watch some obscure movie from 1931? You can have it delivered to your home in seconds. You want to see a particular episode of "The Waltons" from 1973? No problem. You want to see Game 7 of the 1951 World Series in it's entirety? No problem either.
This is what is coming down the pipe. Literally. And soon.
I think that had less to do with TV and more to do with anarchy in the governing bodies.
I hate the NFL broadcast rules. Here in Communist Massachusetts, we are CONSTANTLY fed NY Giants games regardless of the best NFC matchup. And if it's not the Giants, it's Drew Bozo and the Cowboys. I can't get the dish. It's just not worth it for me. It would be 300 channels I pay for and don't watch vs 200. I have Patriots tickets and would miss half the season anyway. It's ridiculous.
The Miss America Pageant has a similar 'brilliant' idea --- moved it to LV and put it only on cable.
3 people watched it, I hear.
WB and UPN are supposed to merge into CW.
Maybe NFL can pick up the empty slot left by that merger.
NFL ping worthy
Looks like content starvation for the Dinosaur Media neworks to me...""
Dinosaur in many respects, Yes indeed.
But--- there are millions of social security retirees who cannot afford to have satellite TV. This is a disservice to them, who have been loyal supporters of the NFL teams nationwide for many, many, many years.....
Shame on the NFL.
Won't that make the beer get warm?
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