The NFL Network is preparing to intensify its ongoing battle with Comcast this summer.
Both sides have dug in their heels in an ongoing carriage dispute over the network. The latest salvo comes from the NFL, which is preparing a formal complaint to be filed with the Federal Communications Commission.
The complaint will accuse Comcast of anti-competitive and discriminatory treatment of the NFL Network. Comcast has refused to place the NFL Network on a basic cable tier, arguing the networks asking price of 70 cents per subscriber was too steep, considering the NFL Network only broadcasts 8 live NFL games each season.
Residual bad blood exists between the parties after the NFL Network placed the 8 additional games on its own network rather than selling the broadcast right to Comcast’s own sports network, Versus. Called OLN, or Outdoor Life Network at the time, the NFL bypassed OLN/Versus bid for the games, based partly on the fact Comcast did not want to allow the games to be broadcast on free television in the two participating cities. The NFL has a policy of free network broadcasts in the participating cities, with the home broadcast subject to the game being sold out.
The NFL Network has been trying for years to hammer out agreements with both Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the two largest cable operators in the U.S. The NFL wants the network carried on basic cable in order to reach as many subscribers as possible, while Comcast countered by putting it on a sports tier, charging around $5 per month extra to customers who wanted the network.
That decision is under review by the court system. Time Warner has not carried the NFL Network in any form. The NFL has been pushing for binding arbitration with both cable companies in order to put the dispute to bed.
The NFL Network is also battling DISH Network, which moved the all-football channel off its America’s Top 100 package, costing the NFL another 4 million subscribers last month. Currently, the NFL Network is only available on basic tiers through DIRECTV, Verizon FiOS, and AT&T’s U-Verse service.
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