We are Puppets and the NFL is our Master
Posted by tinfoilhats on November 29, 2007
Tonight the Packers and the Cowboys are playing, and I, like many people, cannot watch it because my cable provider does not include the NFL Network in it’s basic package…and I (despite loving football) have no desire to pay for the Sports Package.
Why, oh why are the awful, awful Cable Providers doing this to the poor fans???
Well, that is what the NFL wants you to ask. You see, the NFL is fighting with these service providers, and they want to use us, the fans, as their weapon.
The NFL wants their NFL Network to get the same rates as the highest-rated cable networks, such as TNT, USA or the Discovery Channel…even tho those networks provide hundreds of hours of original programming…and the NFL provides 8 games per season.
Yes, they have other stuff, but only the most die-hard NFL fans would care about it. I love my Texans; I go to some games; I watch every game on TV; I currently have 4 fantasy football teams; but man…even I don’t care about most of the “in-depth” programming and commentary for the other 48 weeks of the year. I don’t want to watch the Combine, and I get my fill of draft talk on ESPN and sports radio.
The NFL approaches this as if they have all of the cards, even when they know that they have a weak hand. They pull these 8 games each year in order to get fans angry about not being able to see the games. They want angry fans to call their cable providers and demand that the NFL Network be added to basic service, and that the providers capitulate to all of the NFL’s demands. They don’t have the product to back their demands up…so they want the anger of the cable subscribers. They want the phonelines of Comcast, Cox, Time-Warner and every other major provider jammed tonight and tomorrow by angry fans who are threatening to leave for the greener pastures of DirectTV or Dish Network.
And you know what? I bet that it is working like a charm. They are pulling our (I’m a fan, I am part of this, too) strings and we are dancing for our masters. The Capitalist in me admires the hell out of the NFL for taking such a ballsy stance against these Cable Providers; playing the kind of hardball that would make Chris Matthews curl up into a ball of insane jealousy. The fan in me, tho, is pissed about missing this game and does not appreciate how the NFL tries to play it off as “They’re the white hats, and the Cable guys are the villains.”
Bottom line? I’m annoyed right now, but by tomorrow I’ll be over it, and by Sunday I’ll be in front of the Tube watching my Texans take on the hated Titans and whatever other games are on. The NFL won’t be getting me to call on their behalf tonight, but I’m sure that they won’t miss me much, seeing as how I probably wouldn’t be able to get through anyway.
Talk about a goal-line stand!
