• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 8, 2006

The Federal Communications Commission won't deny the viewing public its TV necessities of life. No, this isn't TV news from Iraq or the Emergency Broadcast System; it's NFL football.

The FCC says it is in the public interest for Time Warner and Comcast to carry football from the NFL Network. NFL football is the preeminent professional sport in TV, getting the highest sports ratings and advertising prices. The NFL carries a lot of weight among TV executives and Federal regulators.

I wonder if the FCC were put in the same predicament, deciding on pro motorcycling racing, billiards, wrestling, or the Ab Lounger, if they would come to the same conclusion. Hope so.

While the FCC ponders the issues over decency--call them, plainly, sex TV themes -- FCC has no problem with the violence part of the TV screen, nor that of reality TV--TV news that shows blown-up bits of people in Lebanon or Iraq.

The rub comes as Time Warner, along with Comcast, are divvying up the Adelphia systems--which carries the NFL Network. But Time Warner and Comcast really don't want to pay the NFL network the high subscriber fees the network demands. They would rather put it on some sort of digital tier or pay-type tier--so its customers can, in effect, pay that subscriber fee.

NFL wants high subscriber fees AND to get the high-priced advertising by being on the basic tier. That means violence and greed run high at the NFL Network.

The NFL isn't alone in its excesses and hyperbole. Time Warner say the FCC move would require it to drop some existing networks to keep the NFL, that the move "inflicts severe, immediate and irreparable harm" on Time Warner Cable and its customers.

Ow! Did you feel that? That was the NFL's bone-crunching tackle on cable operators.

Harm could come to HGTV, for example. That means my "Bad, Bad Bath" will now remain very bad. With no "Design on a Dime," I will spend quarters.  But if the NFL Network goes away, I might never see some pre-season NFL games of drug-induced athletes putting an early summer hurt on each other.

TV capitalism wounds the ones we love: our community-interest-minded, life-enriching, TV networks and cable companies.