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Game will be on
Nov 13, 2008 (The Berkshire Eagle - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
There is some good news for fans of the New England Patriots, the New York Jets and the National Football League. It just may not be the news you want to hear.
Tonight's Jets-Patriots game will be televised by the NFL Network, and the NFL Network is not offered by Time Warner Cable.
The good news, however, is that the NFL Network offers its broadcast to one over-the-air television station in each team's home market. Fortunately for Berkshire County football fans, that Boston television station is WCVB, which is carried by Time Warner in the county.
The NFL Network has the same arrangement that ESPN does with its Monday Night Football telecasts. ESPN does allow stations in the home markets of NFL teams to carry the cable network's telecast. In Boston, that station is also WCVB. That means fans who don't have access to ESPN can watch Patriots games on a second cable channel.
Now, what is good news for Berkshire County football fans, isn't such good news for those fans who live right across the state line in New York. The agreement between the cable networks and the NFL provide for one station in the home market to carry the game -- and unless New York state residents have satellite TV, they won't see the game from a New York City station.
While that is all good news in Berkshire County, the apparent bad news is that the NFL Network and many of the major cable companies -- Time Warner among them -- still have not agreed to a deal that would bring the NFL Network to their systems.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the NFL Network is available in 43 million homes. ESPN is available in 96 million homes.
In a move that could have potential repercussions, the Federal Communications Commission sided with the National Football League last month, ruling that Comcast Corp. should carry the NFL Network.
The FCC ruled that Comcast discriminated by agreeing to carry the channel on a more expensive sports cable service instead of its basic cable.
The ruling will go before an administrative law judge, who could require Comcast to carry the NFL programming at a certain price.
It's a decision that could have an impact on other cable companies, but that remains to be seen.
To see more of The Berkshire Eagle or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.berkshireeagle.com. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Regional News.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Mass. Distributed by
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax
to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave.,
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