• Multichannel News, Monday, January 8, 2007 11:15 AM

For a football fan, the NFL Network might sound like a dream come true, with its "all football, all the time" format. But football fans in many cable markets can't buy the NFL Network separately from expanded-basic cable. The league is trying an end run around sports tiers to get in every cable-subscribing home, whether they are wanted or not.

The NFL will not allow cable operators to launch the NFL Network on anything but the most highly penetrated program tier--analog basic cable --a technical and financial challenge for operators. Still, consumers clearly want a model more like á la carte programming. "While this goal may be idealistic but impractical for many reasons, cable and its partnering network programmers should be looking at giving consumers more choices, not less," says the trade pub, noting that "force-feeding niche cable sports programming" will only upset consumers more.

But the NFL Network has attempted to pit subscribers against their cable companies by insisting that operators are depriving them of the sports content available on satellite.

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