Comcast, NFL Network Head Back to Court

Just when you thought the bees had stopped circling angrily around the disturbed hive that’s content controversies, an appeals court has overturned a ruling that let Comcast Corp. package the popular NFL Network with programming in a separate pay tier.

The initial game plan of the NFL Network, which is owned by the NFL and carries live games as part of year-round league coverage, was to have cable operators and others carry the channel as part of their basic tier so consumers would not have to pay extra.

But Comcast changed signals along the way and notified customers last summer that it was bundling NFL Network, other sports channels, BET and Turner Classic Movies together in a pay subscription “sports” tier and began charging for it.

Now, the two sides are headed back to court, as a state appeals court in New York has voted 4-0 to overturn the ruling by a lower court that had allowed Comcast to provide the channel as part of a niche sports tier instead of a broader digital package.

Those that didn’t ante up the $7 or so a month for the special tier, lost the channel, which carried several key live NFL games in the stretch run to the playoffs. This threatened to put countless subscribers out in the dark for the season finale between the 15-0 Patriots and the New York Giants, the eventual Super Bowl champions, on Dec. 29.

Without the channel, only the two huge local markets, Boston and New York, would have been able to see the game on local TV, as would customers of other service providers in the United States without access to other TV services, such as DirecTV Inc., or newer services like Verizon Communications Inc.’s FiOS and AT&T Inc.’s U-verse.

Under bone-crushing pressure from football fans and even politicians threatening investigations, the final game was made available through a simulcast with NBC and CBS.

In related news, Comcast has raised rates on virtually all of its digital TV offerings in at least the suburban Boston area, which befuddles some given increased competition by Verizon’s FiOS in the region.

Comcast Corp. www.comcast,com
NFL Network www.nflnetwork.com

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