Patriots/Giants game to be broadcast nationwide after all

[Devious]

Posted: 15 hours 28 minutes ago
Patriots' historic game to be available to all of America, after all
Associated Press

NEW YORK -- After weeks of insisting they wouldn't cave in, NFL officials did just that Wednesday. Now all of America can see the Patriots' shot at history.

Saturday night's game between New England and the New York Giants on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with TVs, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC.

NFL Network is carrying eight games on Thursday and Saturday nights. Don't get NFL Network? Click here for more information.

The Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season.

"We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans," commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement after the league announced it was reversing course. "What we have seen for the past year is a very strong consumer demand for NFL Network. We appreciate CBS and NBC delivering the NFL Network telecast on Saturday night to the broad audience that deserves to see this potentially historic game. Our commitment to the NFL Network is stronger than ever."

NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky said officials would have no further comment Wednesday.

The NFL had claimed that the onus of making the game widely available fell on the major cable providers with which the league has bitterly feuded. Companies such as Comcast and Time Warner have declined to carry the network as part of basic packages.

But lawmakers have pressured the NFL to ensure more viewers could see the game. Last week, two prominent members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Goodell threatening to reconsider the league's antitrust exemption.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who co-wrote the letter with Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he was "delighted" by the NFL's concession.

"I think it was a smart move on their part," he said in a phone interview.

Leahy expected to speak with Goodell again next month about the ongoing question of how many fans will be able to see games on the channel. Saturday's matchup wraps up the NFL Network's second season of airing live contests, with eight per year. This one and a key Thursday night game between Green Bay and Dallas last month drew widespread complaints about the lack of availability.

"I never completely gave up hope, but I was getting a little discouraged Christmas afternoon when we still had not gotten a positive answer," said Leahy, who added that his staff members were talking with NFL officials during the holiday.

Local TV affiliates in the Boston, Manchester, N.H., and New York areas that were already set to simulcast the game under NFL policy will still air it. That means viewers in those markets will have four channels to choose from if they get NFL Network.

This will be the first three-network simulcast in NFL history and the first simulcast of an NFL game since the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967, when CBS and NBC televised the meeting of the champions of the newly merged National Football League and American Football League.

"We're happy to accommodate the NFL's request for a joint national simulcast of this potentially historic game to make it available to the widest possible audience," said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal's chairman for sports and Olympics.

NBC was scheduled to air "Dateline NBC" and a repeat of "Law & Order: SVU" during the time slot. CBS was set to broadcast the movie "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "48 Hours: Mysteries."

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d80579400&template=with-video&confirm=true

 

[FroDawgg]

you know, if i was a fan of other teams that played in the other games but weren't able to see them cuz i was out of market, i'd be pissed (my skins were on one, but i live in VA, and i was at the game anyway, so fortunately i have not had to experience this). the nfl network should've never come and taken games exclusively to show on there. now they go and put this one on broadcast...just shows how much the league sucks NE's balls and doesn't care about the rest of the league and their fan base.

oh, and i hope the Pats lose, even if it is to NY, who i hate.

 

[Devious]

you know, if i was a fan of other teams that played in the other games but weren't able to see them cuz i was out of market, i'd be pissed (my skins were on one, but i live in VA, and i was at the game anyway, so fortunately i have not had to experience this). the nfl network should've never come and taken games exclusively to show on there. now they go and put this one on broadcast...just shows how much the league sucks NE's balls and doesn't care about the rest of the league and their fan base.

oh, and i hope the Pats lose, even if it is to NY, who i hate.

well i this case, it wasn't about sucking NE's balls, as you so nicely put it, it was a case of fan and outside (government) pressure. the fans clearly wanted to see this game, and too many people were going to be shut out because of the cable companies making the bad decision not to carry the NFL network. remember, whether you like the Pats or the Giants or not, this could be one of the most historically important games in NFL history, and people want to see it. it's not as though they made this decision on their own. if you read the article, it says there was immense pressure on them to do something about this game to get it seen. hell, even the US government threatened them with antitrust suits. did they really have a choice? i think they made the right decision, for the fans and the league.

edit: it wouldn't have mattered to me whether the game was picked up by CBS and NBC or not, since I live in Canada and TSN (Canadian ESPN affiliate) picks up all the NFL Network games, but it's a matter of making the right business decision. you have to give the fans what they want if you want to stay in business.

 

[ARon]

NFL Network is a joke, I'm not talkin about the coverage thing, everyone already knows how messed up that is. The announcers are stupid as fuck, it's like I'm watching a game on High School broadcast channels. At least we don't have to watch this on NFL Network now.

 

[Mo_Murda]

NFL Network is a joke, I'm not talkin about the coverage thing, everyone already knows how messed up that is. The announcers are stupid as fuck, it's like I'm watching a game on High School broadcast channels. At least we don't have to watch this on NFL Network now.

True that, I usually watch games now on mute and listen to music instead.... Monday Night Football too has become garbage I've never understood why we need 3 annoying so called "experts" to narrate the games, it's horrible...

 

[Devious]

well i kinda lke the MNF crew they got now, and Jaworski is a million times better as a color guy than Joe "in my day..." Theisman. but the NFL network games are called pretty badly, i'll give you that. but i wouldn't agree that he whole network is a joke, tey do have some great shows with hosts who know what they're talking about (unlike some other networks' football coverage, i'm not naming names, they know who they are lol).

edit: ARon, it's a simulcast, which means they will pick up the NFL Network feed, so it will be NFL Network guys still calling the game.

 

[FroDawgg]

and too many people were going to be shut out because of the cable companies making the bad decision not to carry the NFL network.

well, i understand the pressure to show the game and all, but back to my point that the NFL Network is doing a disservice by picking up games. they should have made sure most cable companies were carrying it before deciding to show games that over half of the country won't be able to watch. that is their responsibility to the fanbase. i remember when the cowboys/packers game was on. i wanted to watch that game as much as this game (actually probably more, b/c that was a game that i was rooting for a team to win, unlike this one where i just want one to lose more than the other), but i wasn't able to. now imagine if i was a fan of either team, and how pissed i would be.

 

[Devious]

well, i understand the pressure to show the game and all, but back to my point that the NFL Network is doing a disservice by picking up games. they should have made sure most cable companies were carrying it before deciding to show games that over half of the country won't be able to watch. that is their responsibility to the fanbase. i remember when the cowboys/packers game was on. i wanted to watch that game as much as this game (actually probably more, b/c that was a game that i was rooting for a team to win, unlike this one where i just want one to lose more than the other), but i wasn't able to. now imagine if i was a fan of either team, and how pissed i would be.

all that is true, and the NFL should have waited to get all the issues with the cable companies sorted out before they started airing games on the network. but the issues have been going on since the network's inception. some cable companies simply refuse to add it to their basic cable packages, making their customers pay premium prices to get it, and therefore lowering availability since people aren't going to pay more than it's worth. and in some markets, the cable companies refuse to offer it at all. is that the NFL's fault?

but there are 2 issues here. first, obviously the network didn't realize how important this game would be when the schedules were made. second, i think the NFL should have every right to air their own games on their own network, don't you? they almost always give concessions to the local stations in the markets of whatever teams are playing so that the games are aired on local tv, and fans in those areas get to see the game whether or not they have the network. i agree with you that it is unfair for fans who don't live in their team's regions, but i find it hard to say that the league shouldn't be airing them on their own network. they just should have worked out all the issues first.