NFL Network vs. cable: Who's right? Who's wrong?
Did you catch the Packers-Cowboys game Thursday night? According to USA Today, less than 40 percent of the United States was able to sit at home and watch as the Cowboys edged out the Packers 37-27. The widely anticipated competition between the two 10-1 teams aired locally, but for those not living in Green Bay, Milwaukee,or Dallas/Fort Worth, the only place to see the game was on the NFL Network, a fairly recent cable channel that reportedly, "provides about 24 hours per year of live NFL football and about 8,736 hours of filler."
Unfortunately, the NFL Network isn't available on many cable systems. Some cable providers, such as Comcast, only offer the network as part of its sports tier, despite the NFL's pleas to be included as basic cable. The two major satellite companies offer the channel in their basic package, and the NFL has mounted a campaign urging viewers to dump its cable companies for an alternative that carries the NFL Network.