It's my right
There's a lot of talk in this great country of ours about our rights. We have the right of free speech and the right to religious freedom, etc. There are those who take these "rights" out of context and abuse them and claim as "rights" things that are not what was intended. However, I do think that as an American, I should have the RIGHT to watch NFL football on regular TV. I am becoming progressively more irritated at the NFL infringing on my right to view games that are not played on Sunday. According to the Constitution or the Declaration of Independance (I believe it is that latter! I am showing my ignorance. GCC would not be proud.), I have the right to the pursuit of happiness. That pursuit involves being able to watch as many football games as possible between the months of August and January. I am very perturbed that as a "standard" cable customer, I now cannot watch Monday Night Football. On top of that, I am no where close to being able to watch the NFL Network games, which require satellite cable. What is up with this?? Why should I be forced to shell out at least a hundred bucks a month just to watch what is REALLY the national sport. In my mind, it overtook baseball a long time ago. An entirely separate issue. But, we middle class football lovers need to unite and let the NFL know that this is not acceptable! They are infinging on our right to watch football. Class action lawsuit, anyone?
posted by Erin at 12:27 PM
6 Comments:
erin i am SO with you on this. you have no idea how annoyed i am with the nfl network. there are two separate issues here:
1. monday night football. the rights to mnf got purchased by espn, which means the games are all televised on that network. if you get cable but don't get espn, then you don't have a very good cable provider. i mean, if you are just getting the very basic cable (just the top 5 or 6 networks and pbs) then you won't get it. i don't feel that this is particularly infringing upon my rights, since i think it is reasonable to assume that most folks are spending the extra bucks on cable. i understand your beef here, but i don't think your argument is as strong. however,
2. the nfl network is screwing us. i had regular cable. the nfl network was not included. i wanted to make sure that i got to see the games that the nfl network was going to be showing this year, so i upped my cable significantly to a digital package so that i could get the nfl network. fine. that worked great. until thanksgiving when the games were supposed to be on the network. i turned on the tv to channel 124 to see the game, and it is a blue screen saying that the game has been blacked out because my cable provider is unwilling to pay the prices that the nfl network is demanding for the games. i was so frustrated, so, as any good american, i called my senator, oops, i mean i called my cable company and complained. i told them that it was really nice of them to try and save us a couple of bucks, but that they didn't check with me to see if i wanted them to save me a couple of bucks. they said that they were receiving numerous similar complaints, but nothing ever changed. i never got any of the games. it sucks. and here's the bad news: its only going to get worse. the rights to show the games are going to get more and more privatized, and most experts believe that they will eventually move to an entirely pay-per-view system where you have to pay to watch each game.
what has this country come to?
who is your super bowl matchup? i predict new orleans vs. new england in the battle of the "news" with the patriots winning in all.
greg.
greg,
it's all ridiculous. i think all football should be broadcast on one of the national networks so that even people with rabbit ears would be able to watch. it's a national passtime that even the common man should be able to enjoy. so espn vs. nfl network to me is the same thing. it's still somewhat elitist. if this is the direction that it's going , i'd almost prefer a pay per view option. that way i can at least pay a couple bucks to see a game that i want to instead of paying $100+/month in cable/satallite fees for a bunch of crap that i don't want in addition to the games. but it's all a load of crap, because, as i said in the beginning, it should almost be a social service. maybe i should call my senator...
yeah. do that. let me know how that works out for ya'.
but i do like your passion on this. i don't know if anyone will listen to you, but, as i like to say...die trying.
greg.
Where did your CHristmas post go? Anyway - I agree with you all about how frustrating football is these days. Last I heard there was a potential lawsuit against either the NFL for selling the rights so exclusively or the NFL network for demanding so much money - I guess it's probably one and the same. Let's hope that something comes of it. We just signed up for Comcast's Triple Play - $30 for each service for a year - so we got the NFL network without even knowing it. Now, since you're in P'burgh -aren't all the Steelers games shown on local channels or is that only the ESPN games? I know around here when we didn't have ESPN the Eagles Monday night games would be shown on our local ABC.
I agree - it's all annoying. But isn't it like that with the Yankees? I'm sure Greg could weigh in - aren't all their games on a special network that you have to pay for to watch? It's all about the $$$$$ - our society makes me sick!
yeah, mego. most of the yankees games are on a network that the yankees own, called the YES network. this would be really frustrating if you were a yankee fan living somewhere else in the country. however, in the new york region, it is part of our regular cable package. but, i really think it is the direction sports are headed: privitization. and if you think it is about anything other than the almighty dollar, you are crazy. its all about the benjamins, as a wise man once said. there is no real money in returning all the games to a major network. here's why:
they can't afford the bidding wars! espn, who is owned by ABC and therefore can resource their own budget as well as the sports budget of ABC, will get whatever they want. EXCEPT now that the nfl network (which is owned exclusively by the NFL) exists, it can have whatever games it wants. which is why, i think, they will carry even more games next year.
megan, you said you got the nfl network. were the games blacked out on it, or could you watch them?
erin - thanks for bringing up such a serious topic.
greg.
You guys are awesome! Its no wonder you are all my friends. I love that I have girls, no including Greg, as passionate about football as I am. Meg and Erin, do you ever feel your husbands don't give you the credit you deserve for actually wanting to start a war to be able to see football! Anyway I got a dish this year so that I could watch football on Monday night. For the last few years I couldn't watch any Sunday night football because of the fact we were unablet to get cable out where we live. So now I get both ESPN and NFL Network. My channels were not blocked but then again I don't live near any big cities where networks might block the football. For one who has had to go without football in the past I agree that it should be a nationally telavised sport. Now that we get right down one more week to the super bowl I have to say I really will miss football. At least NASCAR will return soon.
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