GAME TONIGHT IS HIT OR MISS

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Dec 13, 2007 | by FRANK SCHWAB

The national dispute between the NFL and cable TV companies landed Wednesday in Colorado Springs, but many area cable customers probably will get to see tonight's game between the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans.

Probably.

The NFL owns the NFL Network, which will broadcast tonight's game, starting at 6:15 p.m. Comcast, the major provider in Colorado Springs, and several other major cable companies have balked at the price the NFL Network charges cable companies for the rights to broadcast its games.

Two cable giants elsewhere, Cablevision and Time Warner, have refused to run the NFL Network. Com- cast signed a contract with the NFL but put the NFL Network on a higher-priced digital sports tier that costs $4.95 extra per month. Comcast is offering that tier free for six months.

The NFL wants a high price and wide distribution for its product.

Cable companies want to pay less and don't want to make nonfootball fans pay for the service.

The NFL and Comcast have tussled in court.

This much seemed certain Wednesday afternoon: The game will be on channel 177 on Comcast (on the digital sports tier), channel 56 for Falcon Broadband (513 in high definition), channel 212 on DirecTV and channel 154 on Dish Network in Colorado Springs.

But that leaves basic cable customers in Colorado Springs and Woodland Park wanting.

Since it first went to cable in 1987, the NFL allows local over- the-air channels in a team's home city to bid for the right to simulcast the game. Over-the-air channels in a secondary market like Colorado Springs can't bid for the game.

Denver station KWGN, a CW network affiliate, bought the rights to tonight's Broncos-Texans game.

Wednesday afternoon, Comcast vice president of public relations Cindy Parsons said that because Comcast has an agreement with KWGN, a CW affiliate, in Denver, Comcast thinks it is able to show the game on basic cable in Colorado Springs on channel 22.

"Under our retransmission agreement with KWGN, we have the ability to make the game available," Parsons said, adding it will go to all Comcast subscribers in the state. "We're more than pleased to make it more widely available."

Not so fast, said the NFL later Wednesday.

"You're not going to see it in Colorado Springs except on the NFL Network," said Seth Palansky, a spokesman for NFL Network.

Asked about Comcast's view that it can show the game because of its agreement with KWGN, Palansky said, "They know the rules. If they retransmit, both they and KWGN will be held liable."

Parsons was told of the NFL's comments Wednesday evening and reiterated Comcast's plan not to black out KWGN, which is part of its basic cable package throughout the state.

"This is in the best interest of our customers," Parsons said. "We're doing everything within our right to make the Broncos available to a wide array of customers."

Comcast put the NFL Network on a sports tier last year, when the network's Broncos-Chiefs game on Thanksgiving was on a digital package but not on less-expensive basic cable.

This is the fourth of eight NFL Network games this season, but the only one involving the Broncos.

The contest is crucial for the Broncos (6-7). If they lose tonight, they would be eliminated from the playoffs if San Diego (8- 5) and Cleveland (8-5) win Sunday.

But on-field matters aside, the NFL and cable companies are for- profit businesses.

"Unfortunately, it's the fans that are getting, I hate to use this word, but screwed," Broncos owner Pat Bowlen said.

The NFL charges about 70 cents per subscriber to major cable companies. Other cable networks, such as ESPN, charge $2 or more. Comcast, however, views the NFL Network as a specialized station that doesn't bring in as many viewers as a network like ESPN.

"We feel this is the best and fairest way to their programs because it is expensive," Parsons said of Comcast's general view of the NFL Network, today's possible exception aside. "We make it available to those who want to see it. Those who don't want to see it don't have to pay for it."

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said when Comcast moved the NFL Network from the regular digital channels to a sports tier, the number of viewers who had it dropped from about 8 million to about 1 million.

"They said, 'We're going to stifle the growth of the network,' that's basically what they did," Bowlen said of Comcast.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, head of the NFL Network committee, has urged fans to switch from cable to satellite dish.

Dish Network spokesman Parker McConachie said his company saw a spike in subscribers in Wisconsin before a highly anticipated Packers-Cowboys game Nov. 29, and the Broncos game was having a similar effect.

"We've seen an increase in the Colorado Springs area already," McConachie said.

Mark Ewell, director of marketing and sales for Falcon Broadband, said his company carries the NFL Network on basic cable. But with the NFL planning to raise the price next season, Falcon might have to drop it.

If team owners, who ultimately run the league, felt the heat of fan pressure, Ewell said, maybe the league would relax its position. He doesn't expect that to happen.