Sorry, NFL Network, but you're greedier

As we have learned from the current writers' strike, making moral choices in a less-than-life-and-death situation is really not as hard as it looks. Yes, it is true that a lot of millionaires are out on the picket lines fighting for eight-cent DVD residuals on a $20 sale, but all you have to do is look to the other side of the dispute and the multi-billion-dollar companies that don't want to share and your mind is made up. Press the button. That was easy.

And with the crucial National Football League matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers looming — a game that the NFL Network says should be airing everywhere in this great land but isn't, because of the greedy, greedy cable monopolies — well, again this is an easier call than it seems.

At issue is the fact that the NFL wants Comcast, Time Warner, Charter and all the others to carry its NFL Network on basic cable and pay for the privilege. THe cable companies are crying highway robbery. The NFL is saying, in effect, don't be such big babies, the NFL is incredibly popular and your customers want it — deal with it or prepare to lose your customers to satellite TV.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has even broken a cease-and-desist order (what a surprise, if you know Jerry) and spoken out loudly, encouraging people to switch to satellite.

Again, it may be tempting to take the side of a family-run business like the Cowboys against the big bad cable monopoly, except for a key detail: The NFL Network will charge the cable companies 70 cents per subscriber for the privilege of carrying their channel. Per month. Even in the off-season. Even if you couldn't care less about football.

That is one of the highest rates of any cable network. In fact, the only other two channels I can think of that charge that much are FSN, the regional sports network, which charges about twice that much; and ESPN, which charges about four times that much. The NFL Network is claiming that it's just another sports channel and offers a much better product than the college lacrosse and rodeo offerings often found on those other outlets that charge more money than they do.

That logic doesn't hold up, though, for one simple reason: The NFL Network is not an independent cable channel. It is owned by the provider of their on-air product. The reason FSN and ESPN charge so much money to be carried on your cable system is that they spent millions, even billions, to go out and acquire the broadcast rights to major sports from the teams and, in some cases, leagues (like the NFL). But the NFL Network is affiliated with the teams. As far as I can tell, Jerry Jones owns a piece of the NFL Network, which not only means he's not a disinterested party, but any media outlet that uses quotes from Jerry Jones without quoting his fiduciary interest in seeing the NFL Network carried is not playing straight with its readers.

The NFL Network is a cash grab, pure and simple, and will likely be paid for in its entirety by you, the customer, when that 70 cents is added to your monthly cable bill.

I realize no discussion of a cable bill is complete without a discussion of a la carte cable and what a crock that is, but there isn't time for that today, so I'll just link you to a sensibly argued piece by Joe Nocera last week.