[tousuarshatly]

I like the NFL. I would defend them if they weren't being such giagantic hypocrites.

[12dargernswearf]

NFL to Congress: Stop Others From Doing Exactly What We Do! For a decade, the NFL's Sunday Ticket package, which allows viewers to pay for the right to decide for themselves which games they want to watch, has been available exclusively to subscribers to the DirecTV satellite service. Cable customers can't get Sunday Ticket at any price because the league refuses to offer Sunday Ticket over cable. But do as I say, not as I do! Now that many cable carriers have retaliated against the NFL's monopoly arrangement on Sunday Ticket by refusing to carry NFL Network, or by resisting NFL Network's high fees, the NFL wants people to write to Congress and demand that cable carriers be compelled to show NFLN. As noted by Rob from Weehawken, N.J., among many readers, the NFL Network is running ads this week complaining that cable carriers are "holding you hostage" and even "blocking the games" by not airing NFLN. Never mind that a cable carrier's not airing NFLN blocks viewers' access to eight NFL games per year while the NFL's refusal to allow Sunday Ticket to air on cable blocks the typical viewer's access to nearly 200 games annually.


Outraged that some cable carriers are doing to the public exactly what the NFL does to the public, NFL Network made a mass e-mail appeal last week asking viewers to "Tell your government officials that cable companies are denying you access to NFL Network." Rob counters, "Where's the form to tell my government official about DirecTV having a monopoly on Sunday Ticket? To tell government officials that the NFL is denying me access to live NFL games on Sunday Ticket?" Where, indeed? When the NFL thinks it comes out ahead by denying viewers the chance to watch Sunday Ticket -- most American homes do not receive DirecTV, and millions cannot receive it for technical reasons -- the league believes monopoly power is just great. When cable carriers think they come out ahead by not purchasing NFLN, the league thinks Congress ought to intervene. Note that the NFL isn't proposing the obvious compromise: Require all digital cable and satellite carriers to offer both NFLN and Sunday Ticket, then let consumers choose which they wish to pay for. Instead, the NFL wants Congress to force its product and associated costs on viewers who don't care about football in the offseason while the league continues to use the DirecTV monopoly to prevent the majority of Americans from obtaining free choice in which NFL games they watch.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...t&lid=tab3pos1