October 15, 2007
At Time Warner Cable, we are big fans of the NFL. That's why we offer our customers a ton of NFL games every week on CBS, FOX, NBC and ESPN – in high-definition wherever possible. However, we're not big fans of the deal the NFL Network is demanding. We're working to reach an agreement that's best for all of our customers.
They are trying to force us to put the NFL Network on a widely carried tier of programming. We—along with many of our customers—would prefer to have the NFL Network on a sports tier, where only those die–hard fans who want it would have to pay for it. This approach guarantees sports fans access to this high-priced, targeted programming while not burdening the majority of our customers with the NFL’s costly demands.
Fact is, the price that the NFL Network demands is not in line with the value of their programming. They will carry only eight regular season games, all of which will already be broadcast in local markets.
What's really unfair is that these games used to be available to customers for free, over the air, on regular broadcast. But the NFL Network withdrew them in order to get more revenue. In El Paso, about a third of all households don’t buy cable or satellite service. That’s nearly 100,000 families who used to get games from broadcasters.
The nation's largest cable provider is able to carry the NFL Network on a sports tier—but the NFL Network has refused to allow us to do the same.
Specialty sports networks have been offered for years as a stand-alone tier by Direct TV, which charges avid sports fans almost $300 for out-of-market NFL games during the four-month season. Only satellite subscribers who want to pay this premium are required to defray the cost of “NFL Sunday Ticket.”
In El Paso, Time Warner has for many years offered a sports tier of highly targeted networks, which includes three regional sports networks, the NBA Channel, the Tennis Channel, and FUEL, a network dedicated to action sports. In addition, sports fans have the opportunity to catch the action that is important to them with the various seasonal sports packages.
As for action this week by a few city council members: Government has no business intervening. This is between the NFL Network, cable operators and our customers. In this case, we think the marketplace supports our efforts to put this specialized programming on a specialized tier.
The NFL (not Time Warner Cable) took these eight games away from fans. We think they care much more about extracting fees from our customers than giving fans what they want – and what they used to get for free, over the air.
***
Rene Hurtado is a member of the Time Warner Cable public relations team.