• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 28, 2008

It's a new season for the NFL Network -- and hopefully there'll be new plays.

Once again, the network is working to convince the biggest cable operators in the land that they need to put NFL on their basic tiers that go to most TV consumers.

In the meantime, the network seems to have become a poster child of sorts for another cable issue: a la carte cable networks packages. If the FCC's plan for an a la carte world of cable networks happens, we would see more channels like the NFL Network -- one that doesn't get full distribution into 90 million or more homes, but 43 million homes (or perhaps less, according to some reports), instead. It would be a channel that national advertisers won't necessarily buy, either, because it lacks full national distribution.

These days cable operators want to put expensive niche programming where it belongs -- as an extra option for consumers. But, you say, ESPN is expensive as well. Sure, but it has lots of other programming all-year round.

The NFL Network's problem last year was that controversy focused on a handful of Thursday night games. For cable operators it wasn't enough they could make a lot of money selling local cable advertising during those few games. What about the rest of the year? Better yet, how about the rest of the week?

The NFL should have at least pushed the fact that has it other programming. But that was -- and is -- a difficult chore. It's just niche-y, lower-rated football-related stuff. But it hinged everything on those newly added Thursday games and decided to raise its monthly subscriber rate to cable operators from 20 cents to 80 cents or even a dollar.

Will the network change its plan this year? At the network's recent upfront meeting in New York City, Steve Bornstein, CEO of the NFL Network, said: "I have 250 deals done and I have four more to go", referring to Time Warner Cable, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications and Comcast, which have been reluctant to strike a deal with NFL Network.

f the NFL Network were smart, it would do what it did for the historic New York Giants-New England Patriots season-ending game. When it couldn't get cable operators to go along with running the game on their basic tiers, it let CBS and NBC air the game for everyone to see.


It should adapt to the new game, and call another audible at the line of scrimmage .