Hot damn! A new tradition is started on NFL.com, with the addition of a third Thanksgiving game (KC vs. Denver) tonight, followed by more games each week for the rest of the season. Too bad I do not get the NFL Network; me and another 60-million or so NFL fans are in the same boat.
It seems that the NFL Network and some major cable networks – Charter for one, which happens to be my cable provider – are in a nasty dispute over how to package the NFL Network. Seems the NFL brass wants the new channel to be part of basic cable, but most cable providers want it as part of a premium tier due to the associated costs. We the fans are caught in the middle.
I could switch to DirectTV, but why should I have to do that when my cable service and cable modem service works great already; no complaints, not even with pricing. I have written my local Charter provider several times, but to no avail.
So no Denver/KC tonight, no Baltimore/Cincinnati next week (will be in London, so no big deal), but it gets better. The following weeks will see me missing Cleveland/Pittsburgh (hey, it is football … well, sort of0, San Francisco/Seattle (uh, well maybe not a big loss), and then Saturday Dec 16 I will not get to see Dallas/Atlanta unless I score some tickets for the games. Boo hiss! I will also miss Minnesota/Green Bay, KC/Oakland, and NY Giants/Washington.
OK, on second glance, I am not missing much, but it is the freaking principle of the thing; I want to watch football! I cannot believe that I cannot see Dallas vs. Atlanta because my cable provider will not work out something with the NFL Network folks. I would gladly pay $5/month for the channel, just to get the extra games, but that would be too much to ask.
This Thanksgiving, turkeys are not the only ones getting screwed.
