Clock is Ticking for NFL Network
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/1/2006 2:48:00 PM
Time Warner has set Sept. 15 as the cut-off date for the NFL Network on the systems it recently acquired from Comcast and Adelphia.
It does not carry the network--the two are in a carriage battle--and had pulled it off those systems when it took them over Aug. 1. The NFL Net complained to the FCC, which made Time Warner put the network back on, saying it had not provided the requisite 30-days notice and that not having them on would hurt the NFL Net more that putting them back on would hurt Time Warner.
Time Warner soon after began providing notification to subs that it would pull the net. By midweek, Time Warner had not decided whether or how it would pull the systems--all at once or staggering them according to when they had first started informing subs and thus triggered the 30-day clock.
It has now decided to pull them on Sept. 15 if there is still no deal.
NFL Net spokesman Seth Palansky told B&C that the network has reached out to Time Warner about leaving the network on those systems while they try to hammer out a carriage deal, and said that Time Warner has provided "positive" feedback.
