Re: NFL Greed
The way I understand it is a channel like CNN costs the cable companies about 44 cents per household to deliver under the current agreement. But the NFL channel wants to charge around $2.44 per household. To put that in the basic package would result in rate increases which would reflect negatively on the cable providers.
On the other hand, how many of us are glued to our sets watching the latino channel or the home shopping network? I am sure they are a fraction of the cost to put on as opposed to the NFL channel but there are tons of them. And I love when they add new meaningless channels to the basic lineup, and the fanfare they are presented to us with. Like they are doing us a favor.
No matter how you dice this up, the NFL has lost track of who their customers are. The thought of paying for the luxury to watch commercials is not all that enticing. Toss into the mix that many of us are paying additional luxury taxes to help pay for stadiums (most of which are unnecessary) just to retain our teams where they are, and it is clear that we as fans, are held in rather low esteem by the NFL. I listened to my beloved Packers on the radio last Thursday. Should this trend continue, I will have an additional 3-4hrs a week to do far more productive things than pay to watch millionaires play a game that I once played for the love of the game.
As for the cable companies, their monopoly in given areas, and failure to appreciate why many of us subscribe to their service will be their downfall. And the debate about big cable will transition into big dish, into big network, into whatever, and will most likely never be resolved. As for now, radio is my new best friend.
you're actually about 3 hours from me.... I won't be home to watch the first half though! 
