Question by Thomas: Was it a smart move for the NFL to broadcast the NE Vs NYG game all over the USA?
NEW YORK (AP) — 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.
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.
That did not make officials at WWOR in New York happy.
“The NFL is in clear violation of their agreement with WWOR/My9,” the station said in a statement. “We fully expect the league to honor their commitment to My9 as the exclusive free over-the-air broadcaster for Saturday’s telecast of the New England Patriots at New York Giants game.”
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who had urged cable and NFL executives to settle the dispute, had a much more positive reaction to the league’s announcement.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled that as the Patriots rush toward an historic undefeated season, football fans everywhere have won a victory of their own,” Kerry said. “With today’s announcement, the NFL showed their loyalty to the sports fans who made the NFL an empire in the first place.
“The best news of all is that now no die-hard Pats fans will be shut out from watching their team take aim at football history,” Kerry said in a statement.
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.”
Best answer:
Answer by Amart
Well, being as how the game will not interrupt any good shows or new episodes of anything (WGA Strike), why not air the game on a few channels? It’s history, why not give everyone a chance to see it?
I mean, I have direct TV, so it wasn’t gonna affect me, but what about the folks who don’t want to pay like $ 80.00 a month for Direct TV? Everyone should get a chance to see this game…
Add your own answer in the comments!
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This is a great day and things are looking up. Glory be, we were granted a wonderful treat for this next weekend. For free and let the will of god be done. Let the winner be the righteous and the Lord is good.
Yes It was smart. They will get more viewers and will see a team making history.
Great move by the NFL.
Now if only the NHL can follow suit….
The interest is there to see the Pats break the record and win 16 games without a loss.
However, both teams won’t let their stars play the full game so the fans will get cheated out of seeing the best Pats play the best Giants for a full game.
Pro Football is going toward pay for view so maybe some of the college games should be on Sunday for the guys who don’t want to pay an extra fee to watch a game.
If it’s a good game, it’s a good thing. If the Patriots run up the score on the Giants backups, like 65-3, it will be a bad thing.
Yes it is a once in a lifetime oppurntunity
well a lot of ppl are happy now