Taco
01-29-2006, 10:25 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/football/nfl/cowboys/stories/MYSA012906.1C.FBNcowboys.thanksgiving.364dd18.html
NFL gobbles up Cowboys
Web Posted: 01/29/2006 12:12 AM CST
Tom Orsborn
Express-News Staff Writer
The NFL's decision to broadcast eight prime-time Thursday and Saturday games on its NFL Network next season could make for an unappetizing Thanksgiving for many of the city's Dallas Cowboys fans.
League sources said Saturday the package will begin Thanksgiving night with the Cowboys-Washington Redskins game in Irving. Simulcasts of the eight games will be limited to stations in the markets of the teams playing, meaning San Antonio-area fans must pay to watch the Cowboys-Redskins game or find a bar or restaurant that carries the NFL Network.
"We are following the same protocol that exists for games shown on ESPN," said Seth Palansky, NFL Publicity Manager/Director of Media Services.
When ESPN broadcasts a Cowboys game, the league also allows a local station in the Dallas market to simulcast the game. In San Antonio, it is only shown on ESPN.
The NFL Network is offered in San Antonio through cable/satellite providers DirecTV, Dish Network and San Marcos-based Grande Communications Inc.
Depending on the level of service, packages offered locally that include the NFL Network range from $38-$63 a month.
There may soon be a fourth option. Time Warner Cable, the area's largest cable provider, is negotiating with the NFL, Time Warner spokesman Jon Gary Herrera said.
"We would like to get something done as quickly as possible, and we are optimistic a deal will be reached," Herrera said.
By showing live games, the NFL Network will increase its value significantly and, in turn, become more attractive to cable operators like Time Warner and Charter Communications, said Marc Ganis, president of the Chicago-based sports marketing company Sportscorp Ltd.
The decision also means the NFL Network can charge higher monthly subscriber fees while the league still collects lucrative payments from broadcasting partners CBS, Fox, ESPN and DirecTV.
"Time Warner will need to take the NFL Network on," Ganis said. "Their subscribers will demand it. Plus, Time Warner needs the NFL Network more than some channel about gardening or something like that."
Ganis predicted the NFL will ask cable operators to put the NFL Network on basic cable so all cable customers would get it. The NFL Network has about 40 million cable and satellite subscribers.
"This is a really smart move," Ganis said. "The NFL Network will get many more subscribers and is going to be available to many more households. That will allow the NFL Network to be viewed by tens of millions more people regularly."
The NFL had been negotiating to put games on Comcast Corp.'s OLN Network or a new sports channel but decided Friday to televise games on its own network.
"After discussing this new package of games with many potential partners, we decided it would be best presented on our own, high-quality NFL Network, which has developed so rapidly that the time had come to add live regular-season games to the programming," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. "In the end, we wanted these games on our network, which is devoted 24/7 to football."
NFL games broadcast on ABC, CBS and Fox averaged 15.6 million viewers this season. Games on ESPN averaged 8.7 million.
"The NFL is fortunate to be in a position where they can put their games on almost any delivering system and know fans will seek them out," Ganis said. "It's a unique situation. There is no other programming concept in the United States that can say that."
The NFL created the eight-game package by taking Saturday and Sunday games originally scheduled for CBS or Fox.
NFL gobbles up Cowboys
Web Posted: 01/29/2006 12:12 AM CST
Tom Orsborn
Express-News Staff Writer
The NFL's decision to broadcast eight prime-time Thursday and Saturday games on its NFL Network next season could make for an unappetizing Thanksgiving for many of the city's Dallas Cowboys fans.
League sources said Saturday the package will begin Thanksgiving night with the Cowboys-Washington Redskins game in Irving. Simulcasts of the eight games will be limited to stations in the markets of the teams playing, meaning San Antonio-area fans must pay to watch the Cowboys-Redskins game or find a bar or restaurant that carries the NFL Network.
"We are following the same protocol that exists for games shown on ESPN," said Seth Palansky, NFL Publicity Manager/Director of Media Services.
When ESPN broadcasts a Cowboys game, the league also allows a local station in the Dallas market to simulcast the game. In San Antonio, it is only shown on ESPN.
The NFL Network is offered in San Antonio through cable/satellite providers DirecTV, Dish Network and San Marcos-based Grande Communications Inc.
Depending on the level of service, packages offered locally that include the NFL Network range from $38-$63 a month.
There may soon be a fourth option. Time Warner Cable, the area's largest cable provider, is negotiating with the NFL, Time Warner spokesman Jon Gary Herrera said.
"We would like to get something done as quickly as possible, and we are optimistic a deal will be reached," Herrera said.
By showing live games, the NFL Network will increase its value significantly and, in turn, become more attractive to cable operators like Time Warner and Charter Communications, said Marc Ganis, president of the Chicago-based sports marketing company Sportscorp Ltd.
The decision also means the NFL Network can charge higher monthly subscriber fees while the league still collects lucrative payments from broadcasting partners CBS, Fox, ESPN and DirecTV.
"Time Warner will need to take the NFL Network on," Ganis said. "Their subscribers will demand it. Plus, Time Warner needs the NFL Network more than some channel about gardening or something like that."
Ganis predicted the NFL will ask cable operators to put the NFL Network on basic cable so all cable customers would get it. The NFL Network has about 40 million cable and satellite subscribers.
"This is a really smart move," Ganis said. "The NFL Network will get many more subscribers and is going to be available to many more households. That will allow the NFL Network to be viewed by tens of millions more people regularly."
The NFL had been negotiating to put games on Comcast Corp.'s OLN Network or a new sports channel but decided Friday to televise games on its own network.
"After discussing this new package of games with many potential partners, we decided it would be best presented on our own, high-quality NFL Network, which has developed so rapidly that the time had come to add live regular-season games to the programming," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said. "In the end, we wanted these games on our network, which is devoted 24/7 to football."
NFL games broadcast on ABC, CBS and Fox averaged 15.6 million viewers this season. Games on ESPN averaged 8.7 million.
"The NFL is fortunate to be in a position where they can put their games on almost any delivering system and know fans will seek them out," Ganis said. "It's a unique situation. There is no other programming concept in the United States that can say that."
The NFL created the eight-game package by taking Saturday and Sunday games originally scheduled for CBS or Fox.