Report: NFL keeps late-season package for itself (Here comes NFL Pay Per View!)

ESPN ^ | January 28, 2006

[Founding Father]

Phase II now in effect.

[RabidBartender]

"the Washington Redskins vs. the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving,"

Ouch. And if your cable company doesn't carry NFL Network, better get a dish (if they don't start charging extra for the channel now).

[Almondjoy]

Nice.. Thursday & Saturday games means Thanksgiving and often time games with playoff implications. Want to see the good matchup's?? Pay up.

[Arkinsaw]

That's dumb showing the Thanksgiving day off network. They are messing with a tradition that earned them more than immediate money.

[Para-Ord.45]

heh-heh, already got the NFL network .

[Richard Kimball]

They might be able to make it work, but pay per view (along with the natural tendency towards dishonesty and fight fixing) took boxing from one of the biggest events to being very low on the radar. Of course, if they promised not to have any of those stupid Burger King ads or the one where the guy asks the skier to imagine her Mastercard's been stolen, it might be worth it.

[shempy]

I welcome NFL pay per view. I would much rather pay for a game I want to see than watch the "free" games that the network programmers choose. With the Bears resurgence this year, I got to see almost all of their games. But in the last 10 years I have had to listen to them on the radio while the local stations all showed the Packers and/or the Vikings.

[From The Deer Stand]

I wouldn't pay a dime to watch an NFL game. If they want me for a fan, put it on network TV. If not, I'll watch the college games.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Not going to work. The majority of NFL fans are families with friends who come over. They'll most likely go out to the sports bar and watch it for free rather than paying for it at home.

[Phocion]

The NFL Network is not Pay Per View.

[advance_copy]

starting with the Washington Redskins vs. the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving

If there is no local broadcast of the Skins-Cowboys game on Thanksgiving, there will be riots in DC, major riots.

[Phocion]

Local games will still be shown on network television in their home markets.

[wireman]

The games will also be shown by local broadcasters in the markets where they are being played.

[G-Man 1]

Sounds like they better take a pole.

[oh8eleven]

The majority of NFL fans are families with friends who come over. They'll most likely go out to the sports bar and watch it for free rather than paying for it at home.
I agree this won't work, but a majority going to a sports bar on Thanksgiving? I don't think so.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

They'll most likely go out to the sports bar and watch it for free rather than paying for it at home.

It is technically not "free" at the sports bar. The proprietor pays for the package, and reports headcount to the content provider. As more PPV and VOD networks are deployed, this actually makes sense. "NFL ticket" packages sell very well through satellite, cable, and other providers.

[rabidralph]

This sucks!

[phatoldphart]

Dish has NFL Network in it's 2nd from top package. Directv has it in their biggest package. But since Dish is not listed, that may change after "negotiations".