Thread: Am I the only one.....

...who's getting tired of politicians and the government in general sticking their noses into sports?


I just read an article saying that John Kerry (yeah, the Lurch impersonator) is whining to the NFL about getting it's issue with Comcast resolved so the Patsies/Giants game isn't limited to just those with satellite.

Seems to me, he could be spending his time and resources as a senator on more important things than sports and cable TV.

JMO

"renovikesfan" wrote:

...who's getting tired of politicians and the government in general sticking their noses into sports?


I just read an article saying that John Kerry (yeah, the Lurch impersonator) is whining to the NFL about getting it's issue with Comcast resolved so the Patsies/Giants game isn't limited to just those with satellite.

Seems to me, he could be spending his time and resources as a senator on more important things than sports and cable TV.

JMO

Since when are Senators constructive?......Most the time they can be found hanging out on Capitol Hill, looking for that next tax payer paid meal.

[size=1pt]no politics....shoot hillary[/size]

"BadlandsViking" wrote:

[size=1pt]no politics....sh**t hillary[/size]

"BadlandsViking" wrote:

[size=1pt]no politics....shoot hillary[/size]

Why limit it to just her?

While I don't like John Kerry, he does have a legitimate issue.
We have pretty stringent laws in place that prevent monopolies.
Competition is good for the consumer - it drives quality up and prices down.
The NFL has an exemption put in place by congress to allow them to operate in a monopoly.
This exemption has a lot to do with the ability to sell the games to television stations.
While I actually take the NFL's side in the Cable issue, I also understand that they are very close to violating the terms of that exemption by not making the games available to the general public.


One of the reasons they were able to move some regular season games to ESPN is because the majority of the people in America have cable.
Now, however, with regular season games in NFLN, the majority of viewers do not have the ability to get the game.

I really think that Comcast and the other cable companies are more to blame.
They would rather put it in a sports package because then they can make more money.
The NFL wants it in the basic package so they don't get into trouble with the exemption.

"NodakPaul" wrote:

While I don't like John Kerry, he does have a legitimate issue.
We have pretty stringent laws in place that prevent monopolies.
Competition is good for the consumer - it drives quality up and prices down.
The NFL has an exemption put in place by congress to allow them to operate in a monopoly.
This exemption has a lot to do with the ability to sell the games to television stations.
While I actually take the NFL's side in the Cable issue, I also understand that they are very close to violating the terms of that exemption by not making the games available to the general public.


One of the reasons they were able to move some regular season games to ESPN is because the majority of the people in America have cable.
Now, however, with regular season games in NFLN, the majority of viewers do not have the ability to get the game.

I really think that Comcast and the other cable companies are more to blame.
They would rather put it in a sports package because then they can make more money.
The NFL wants it in the basic package so they don't get into trouble with the exemption.

Nice post... seriously though. Anyone remember Anti-trust laws? or are we just ignoring those now?

"NodakPaul" wrote:

While I don't like John Kerry, he does have a legitimate issue.
We have pretty stringent laws in place that prevent monopolies.
Competition is good for the consumer - it drives quality up and prices down.
The NFL has an exemption put in place by congress to allow them to operate in a monopoly.
This exemption has a lot to do with the ability to sell the games to television stations.
While I actually take the NFL's side in the Cable issue, I also understand that they are very close to violating the terms of that exemption by not making the games available to the general public.


One of the reasons they were able to move some regular season games to ESPN is because the majority of the people in America have cable.
Now, however, with regular season games in NFLN, the majority of viewers do not have the ability to get the game.

I really think that Comcast and the other cable companies are more to blame.
They would rather put it in a sports package because then they can make more money.
The NFL wants it in the basic package so they don't get into trouble with the exemption.

...except that any game broadcast on cable is also shown on a local network in the cities of the teams that are playing. A couple of my relatives in town have Comcast, and therefore don't have NFL network right now. However, they were all watching the Bears game last night. The NFL doesn't have to make every game available to everyone. That option is only available via Sunday Ticket, which is only available via DirecTV. The NFL only has to make the games avaiable to the home viewing areas, which they're doing. The debate with Comcast has everything to do with the fact that the NFL wants the NFL network to be part of the regular package so that they can increase their viewership numbers, and therefore increase what they can charge for advertising. It has nothing to do with the special exemption from anti-trust laws and how they relate to TV coverage. That issue is covered.