JI: NFL relents: Giants-Patriots game will air everywhere Saturday

By Matt Buckler, Journal Inquirer, 12/26/2007

Football fans received a late Christmas present today when the NFL Network called a reverse.

Saturday's game between the undefeated New England Patriots and the New York Giants will be carried on over-the-air free televison -- on NBC and CBS affiliates across the country, including WFSB-TV3 and WVIT-TV30 in Connecticut.

Orginally the game was scheduled to be carried exclusively on the NFL Network, a cable channel that reaches only 40 percent of the country. But after being pressured by many members of Congress, the NFL, which owns the NFL Network, decided to change its policy.

"The good guys won," said Connecticut's 2nd District U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, a Democrat who led the efforts among state lawmakers to move the NFL.

"Keeping the game off broadcast TV would have been a public relations and political nightmare for the NFL," Courtney said today. He added that according to state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the NFL is a federally protected operation with an exemption from anti-trust law that has helped the league make billions from television contracts.

The NFL may have risked its privilege if it upset members of Congress by not allowing the game to be widely broadcast.

"The NFL was playing a very dangerous game by insisting on squeezing every last drop out of its property," Courtney said. "But public opinion woke up the NFL."

The game still will be on NFL Network, and the network's announcers, Bryant Gumble and Cris Collinsworth, will be

calling the game. But the NFL Network will be joined by hundreds of CBS and NBC affiliates that will simulcast the game.

"We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "What we have seen in the past year is a very strong demand for the NFL Network. We appreciate NBC and CBS delivering the NFL Network telecast to the broad audience that deserves to see this historic game. Our commitment to the NFL Network is stronger than ever."

Courtney said the pressure on the NFL might have reached a boiling point after New England's victory over the Miami Dolphins last Sunday, making an undefeated season for the Patriots a strong possibility.

"After the Patriots won Sunday, public awarness really started to focus," Courtney said. "Letters from other lawmakers started to pile up."

During the past week the NFL was holding firm to its position that the game would be carried only on the NFL Network. In Connecticut the network is available on Cox and Comcast Communications cable franchises, but only on a special digital tier that has been purchased by a small percentage of subscribers.

The situation was worse on other cable systems, where the NFL Network is not being carried at all. That gave TV viewers two options -- purchase the digital tier if they could, or go to a sports bar or the house of a friend who had the NFL Network.

"I was offended by that," Courtney said. "I visited my wife's uncle this week and he's a World War II veteran. What a sad thing that his biggest joy is watching sports on television and he wouldn't be able to watch one of the biggest games of the year. He can't go to a sports bar to watch the game, and the same is true for other elderly and disabled sports fans. The NFL did the right thing."

©Journal Inquirer 2007