Over lunch at a Manhattan steak house last week, someone asked Cowboys owner Jerry Jones whether he is rooting for the Patriots to get to Week 17 undefeated, which would mean a huge attraction for the NFL Network when the Pats visit the Giants Dec. 29.
Jones smiled and said: "Quietly.''
That would be the only thing quiet about the campaign the NFL - with Jones as a public point man - is waging this autumn to pressure cable TV powers such as Comcast, Time Warner and Cablevision to carry the network.
I wrote about the ongoing saga in my Friday newspaper column, but it only scratched the surface of a very complicated, very tiresome topic.
Thanks to the endless vistas of cyberspace, though, I can share with you a portion (yes, there was even more!) of Jones' thoughts on this subject, most of which came in a monolgue uninterrupted by questions.
This makes for a nice bookend in WatchDog history, because the second post ever on May 3 was an extremely long Q&A with NFL Network president Steve Bornstein. You can find it in the WatchDog archives by clicking on "May.''
Click below for the Jerry stuff.
Question: Are you frustrated by the NFL Network's relative lack of distribution?
Answer: I don’t know about frustration. I don’t know that I would use that word. It’s a little bit of anything that’s valuable or worth having, you should expect that you’re going to have to do some work and you’re going to be able to look back years from now and say, 'Well, there were some things we had to overcome.'
"Right now we have about 35 million subscribers. We had hoped to be 60, 70 percent above that at this time and could have had we had the main cable companies that were exposing us through their basic digital channels. Then we would be talking about those kinds of numbers.
"We go to 240 different cable companies that the NFL fits right in their business plan and they’re smaller and it’s not a corporate strategy. If we can fit into their plans it ought to be able to fit into those [larger] companies’ plans.
"Those companies are large enough to have their own interest in a lot of their programming and naturally they can in their strategies justify having that on their basic cable and their subscribers paying for that. And yet in the face of what we know to be serious interest in watching our NFL Network and NFL games, to say, 'You know, we’re going to put that on a digital tier and we’re going to pay the NFL so much and we’ll pay so much and more important than anything we’ll build that asset up and we’ll have ourselves a heck of an asset over here on that sports tier and we’ll build that sports tier.'
"It’s a strategy. That doesn’t align itself with our strategies. We’re very proud of ourselves that over the years, we’ve been able to create special exclusivity with the presentation of our games . . . Monday Night Football, there’s a certain uniqueness to the way that game is and the same thing now with Sunday Night Football or the NFC package on Sunday. In addition to eyeballs there has been that quality. It is important to us, short and long term range, that these cable companies understand that our ownership is totally aligned and completely committed.
"We’ve foregone rights we could have gotten, which is an investment in itself. We’ve made an investment; we’re making money, but relative to just doing a traditional rights deal we’re not doing that. And the reason we are is we want this network to become about football 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"Our games will attract other football programming and we know, not guess, there’s a huge interest in their subscribers on their basic digital package. There’s big interest in having that on that package. First hand in Texas where Time Warner is, I know we have the same percentage of Cowboys fans in San Antonio that we have in Dallas, 97 percent. The same thing is true in Austin and other places in Texas.
"Time Warner knows that and they know they’re losing subscribers. They’re electing to try to go with a special tiering so it’s really incumbent on me in my husbanding of the Cowboys and us as the NFL if we want to build our network it’s important that our subscribers in Texas cancel Time Warner. They need to cancel it and they need to go to their other options which are satellites or the telcom option and those packages that are on the come.
"They know the interest is huge and they are better off building that asset. There are two ways you can have economic viability. You can have it through advertising or you can have it through rates. But there also is an asset thing. They’re interested in building an asset. We’re interested in building an asset. But it was more because it should allow us to have another way for our fans to watch our key games. That’s the rub.
"We know that fans that don’t have alternatives where it’s only the cable, they do have alternatives. They can go to the legislative representation, whether it’s on the state basis or national basis, and they can say, 'Look, you’re giving these people a license, they’re exclusive in my area, in my case we’re Dallas Cowboys fans and we can’t get it and we don’t have a recourse, let’s do something about that. We all understand that pressure. That is happening.
"We visit with the Time Warners and the Comcasts and they say, 'We don’t hear that complaint. We don’t hear people worry about that to the extent you’d like us to worry about it.' We know that not to be the case. So for instance what I’m doing, I’ve kind of got a little reputation of a little maverick deal with the Cowboys there with the league, but boy, this is one that is so much in the interest of the NFL and its fans that I’m busy out here talking to various markets and asking them to cancel out of Comcast, cancel out of Time Warner and go with the other people and I think it’s going to be really effective.
"I know I have large constituencies of state senators, state representatives that will hear in a big way when Romo lines up against Favre and the Green Bay Packers and that game, there’s no way it’s going to be shown on Time Warner. There’s no way there’s time for it to make a difference there. Time Warner might say we might have it on there because they want to lessen the pressure so people won’t switch over during this time.
"They’ll have to either read about it or get it on the replay. One of the things about our area is you have millions of fans, literally without exaggeration with the same intensity, that won’t be able to see it. We think by pointing this out that the next time I go to a meeting with Time Warner and they say to me, 'Well, we don’t feel it, we don’t hear anything, our constituency, surely we’d hear something from them.' Well, that’s just not the case.
"There are operators in our state and they want the programming and they want it more available to the fans. For example Comcast, they took us off their basic digital and we went from eight or nine million subscribers to less than a million subscribers. So that’s hardball and one thing I learned a long time ago is never underestimate the emotion that’s involved with sports, and it’s real. It may be misplaced. It may be more aligned with the people that create the jobs in this country. But it is real.
"Like here in New York our football fans need to complain."
Question: So the network is profitable but not as profitable as if you had simply sold rights fees?
Answer: "We’re operating profitably, if you do not include the fact we could have taken these eight games and get rights fees for those games. We are not making that up at all. That’s OK. That’s a part of the plan. But we should have been operating on a basis where it was viable.
"The thing I have always recognized, whether it be about the Cowboys or the NFL, was that Santa Claus doesn’t put the tricycle under the Christmas tree, and if you want to score touchdowns you have to have some economics behind it. It has to be a full circle.
"I spend all of it to try to put the players on the field. But that’s OK. That’s the way it should be done."
Question: Is a middle ground achievable?
"I think it’s pretty apparent to me when you see 240 companies that operate off some pretty basic fundamentals, we know what works. We know what the Golf Channel viewership is. I think it’s very apparent that the bigger cable companies, Comcast, Time Warner, Cablevision, they just don’t want to get into the business of having or competing for NFL rights. They don’t want to do that.
"In the face of, it costs them subscribers, so they’re deciding not to do it. There is a way we can do it and that’s if we build a heck of an asset on this tiered basic. At this time they haven’t been offered a deal they can’t refuse, so to speak, and it’s imperative that they get the feedback from people canceling their subscriptions as well as not adding to it . . . Until we have an understanding of that is what will result from not having the NFL Network then I don’t think there’s going to be any negotiation."
Question: Any chance of offering the cable companies ownership in the network?
Answer: "Some of these very players wanted to be involved. They’ll take issue with you if you tell them, I understand you were talking about ownership in the NFL Network. They have some issues with ownership and programs and sensitivity there. There certainly is a model, a good model that the NFL would be interested in at a price per game and subscribers that makes sense and the best thing is to look at the ones who are doing it."
Question: Wouldn't it help to drop the price per subscriber?
Answer: I don’t want to sound naïve, but that to me has not been the most sensitive thing. The most sensitive thing is an overall plan that they want to build an asset by tiering and not have it on because they will say, 'Well, if our subscribers get used to it we’ll have to continue to be a player in rights fees.'
"The bottom line is we all know it’s cheaper to put a talking heads show on or things with less of a rights fee."
Question: Why the strategy of asking people to cancel cable?
Answer: "I was literally asked by one of the big companies, 'Show me where we have some sensitivity in not showing NFL games.' I was dared. And so there was no shift in strategy . . . We probably weren’t as aggressive as we should have been [in the past] to get the messages to the real decision makers."
Comments (19)
I may want NFL Network, but I have too many trees on my property which restricts dish access to the south. Should I chop down trees so I can put up an ugly dish?
My cable connections are underground. And they don't get rain fade.
I think to get NFL Network in a good location on the cable box, my cable company wants NFL Sunday Ticket in return.
It's a fair trade. That idea is one of the few smart things James Dolan has said in public in the past decade.
And besides, if the Jersey Jets or Giants play any cable game, it's on an over-the-air channel here in the New York market. Including the Giants/Patriots season finale.
Screw the rest of the country! Jerry Jones is whining because all of Texas outside of Dallas-Fort Worth won't see the 'Boys unless they get a dish. Too damn bad.
Who's greedier and more despicable? The Dolans of Cablevision or the National Felons League ?? Nice of the Vikings to chane their minds andpay the player who dared to miss the game to go to funeral of the grandmother who raised him. And people thought A Rod was a jerk for opting out during game 4. The NFL can give lessons on being jerks and getting their media stooges to ignore it.
My position has always been clear on this and reading Jones' tirade doesn't change it...they talk about making games available on a fair basis and then sign an exclusive deal with directv which millions cannot get...not one word in this tirade about how the NFL has deprived millions of fans willing to pay to see its games...not one word about the cable networks being deprived of Sunday Ticket and the continued inconsistant position of the NFL...one moment it is that the cable companies will not pay for it...the next it's well the cable companies are willing to pay but we don't want every body to have it as this will hurt Fox and CBS; you mean if I choose on a Sunday when the Jets are playing say Miami and that's the game CBS has to give me and I have the ability to watch the Steelers play the Patriots on the same CBS network, I am watching the same commercials at the same times just in different games and of course if I cross over to Fox, there is sure to be somebody whose is told he or she has to watch Fox who will cross over to CBS...it will basically all even out.
If the NFL wants NFL Network on cable, it's simple...invoke a clause that must exist in its contract with Directv and offer the cable companies Sunday Ticket; ;Jim Dolan has said publically that if he is given the ability to sell Sunday Ticket to his customers, he will put NFL Network on; in the same way mlb leveragted Extra Innings to get carriage for its Network onto the cable networks after signing an "exclusive" contract with directv...of course it took some pressure from the Senate to do this. Senator Spectar almost a year ago to the day made the same suggestion to the NFL and warned them that at some point, they might face some question of their anti trust exemption over this issue...he is no longer the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kerry is but I do wish Kerry had the same passion for NFL fans he had for mlb fans.
As a previous person noted, Jim Dolan has a very poor reputation among many for good reason...cablevision has never been run in a customer friendly way. But on this issue, he is 100% right. It will be a cold day in hell before NFL Network appears on basic on cablevision unless the NFL stops screwing fans who want Sunday Ticket and cannot get directv of which there are millions.
And why is it that Sunday Ticket is available on cable systems in Canada and Mexico, but not in the US, where the demand for football is highest?
As long as there are network packages for the NFL (ie; Fox and CBS) NFL ST will NEVER be available to the masses with Cable.
It would destroy the value of the Network packages. NFL would most assuredly take less money forn Direct to keep the package there.
This will never change unless the NFL goes away from OTA network packages.
David...
Your logic makes no sense.....how would it destroy the value of the network packages...I would still be watching say the Pat game on CBS and it would get the ad revenue.
But if you're right, NFL Network will never see the light of day, as well it shouldn't, on cable television unless it's on a sports tier.
Jeff, You are exactly right. I have Cablevision, hate Cablevision, but am totally on their side on this one.
By the way what's the hold up with ESPN2 HD?
You would not be watching the Pats games on CBS therefore the station you should be watchng football on will lose out in the ratings, their ad prices will go down and then CBS will pay less for the package. They want the ratings, to prove they deserve ad revenue and then pay the price. In the meantime the NFL can keep double dipping.
Sandy gave the reason NFL ST will never be available to the masses. Cable companies know it,NFL knows it, a few just don't get it.
If the plug was pulled on DirecTV(not happening) today, the NFL powers that be would move the package to Dish. If Dish wasn't a consideration, then there would be no package.
As long as OTA Networks are involved in the weekly TV package,NFL Sunday Ticket will be available only to DBS crowd. It will never ever be made available to cable and the masses.
You can hold your breath,stomp your feet,call your Congressman, it's still not happening.
i myself used to have Direct tv and get the NFL channel when i was living on my moms ranch and it was very cool to watch out of market games on NFL Sunday ticket. So I think and i agree with some of the people opinions that Time Warner should get the NFL Channel cause Dallas plays Green Bay on the NFL Channel on Nov.29th and Dallas plays Carolina on Dec. 22 on the NFL Channel also. Time warner and Direct tv should get together and pull some string on getting the NFL Channel for their paying Customers. I still think unfair where we have to pay for all the programs and not see Dallas Cowboys play on NFL Network. You all may want to think about this one. I think Jerry Jones ought to get Time Warner to put on NFL Channel real fast., before the season ends. Thanks Beni Fleming, A Cowboy Fan!
$100 a month with Time Warner and NO NFL network????
I have an idea, lets discontinue the spanish channels (2) where I dont understand a word that they are saying, and replace them with (1) NFL network.
If not, I WILL switch to the dish!!!!!!!!!!
NFL is pissed because they are simply not used to people pushing back on their product.
The fact is that NFL Network is priced completely wrong. The cable companies says the price is $100 million or so.
No offense, but knowing how the cost is passed on to the customers, TimeWarner and Comcast knows fully well that they will loose a bunch of subscribers if all of a sudden all customers get a $5 hike in their monthly bill to offset the cost of the NFL Network.
It will never happen. NFL Network belongs in a sports tier, or be available in a ala carte system (if that ever happens). I for one side with the cable operators here.
NFL ought to lower the price to become competetive.
Won't be long and the big long time sports fans will just say enough is enough. NFL, NBA, MLB, Big Ten, Cable, Direct TV can find new customers. Maybe the advertisers will take their money else where, as well.
I can live without the over paid sports industry and thier million dollar athelets.
Paul
I just called Comcast and it costs $2.99 a month for the sports package that Includes the NFL network. That doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
I just called Comcast and it costs $2.99 a month for the sports package that Includes the NFL network. That doesn't seem unreasonable to me.
I work for a big cable company and I feel so bad for the loyal customers that we have that cant get NFL Network. I am mad because I cant get it either... I wish they would just come to an agreement already!!! I dont want to miss seeing my "Boys"!!! I cant believe NFL Network wants $100 million for their channel!! that is crazy! I wish our customers would understand our position more... the ones that want the channel are so angry about us not getting it... They dont mind having a few dollars increase on their bill... they are not thinking about all of the other customers that couldnt care less about having the channel and dont think they should be "punished" and have to pay too... It really needs to be on a sports tier to make everything work out, in my opinion...
As far as I'm concerned, Time Warner Cable could drop Spanish and music channels and add The NFL Network. We have way to many
useless channels on digital cable.
I live in Ohio, and on sundays a lot of the times there is one game on and its the Browns, Bangles, or Ravins and I really don't give a crap about those teams at all. I'm a Broncos fan and they are not even in our division. So I think the NFL should stop thinking they need to make so much money off every game, I mean really they say its the cable companys but in reallity if the NFL is getting millions more dollars for showing there games we the fans are the ones continually paying for there greed. They suck and they are going to drive more and more people into watching only college football. Cause if I have a choice to watch the Browns and Ravens or take a nap, I will sleep every time!
I have Dish, so I haven't missed a game. I am not sure whose fault it is that the cable companies don't carry NFL. The story you get depends on who you talk to. I think its ridiculous for all of them not to carry it. All should pay NFL Network what Dish and Direct TV had to, problem solved. My father in law is fed up with the whole thing. He has Time Warner Cable, still on analog, and because of this mess refuses to make the change. Solve the problems, get it on every channel, and the GAME MUST GO ON! As much as I love my Cowboys, I am not a Jones fan, because he is all about the almighty dollar and not the fans. The fans are what put the dollars there. One more comment. I also think its ridiculous that Congress stepped in and did what they did on this issue. Don't we pay them big bucks to do important things? Oh, I forgot..... this is football! :-)