FCC Reaffirms Ruling Ordering Time Warner To Air NFL Network

The FCC yesterday reaffirmed its ruling from last Thursday that Time Warner Cable “had to carry NFL Network for 30 days on systems just acquired from Comcast and Adelphia Communications,” according to Ted Hearn of MULTICHANNEL NEWS. Time Warner last Friday “threatened to take the FCC to court if the agency didn’t back down,” but the MSO “may ask the five FCC commissioners to overturn [FCC Media Bureau Chief Donna] Gregg’s rulings as an alternative to an immediate court challenge” (MULTICHANNEL.com, 8/7). The FCC ruled, “If Time Warner believed that carrying the NFL Network or any other programming service for 30 days placed too onerous a burden on its First Amendment rights, then it should have sought a waiver of the commission’s rules or provided subscribers with 30 days’ notice.” In N.Y., Richard Sandomir notes Time Warner “quickly received 7,843 consumer complaints and 88 requests to be disconnected” after removing NFL Network from 1.3 million customers last Tuesday. The NFL “fielded another 22,000 complaints” (N.Y. TIMES, 8/8). Time Warner in a statement said it “continues to believe that the FCC has misconstrued the notice rules and has ordered a remedy that is in clear violation of the First Amendment. We are reviewing the decision and considering our options” (N.Y. POST, 8/8).

AD GAME: The St. Pete Times’ Rick Stroud reported some NFL teams “weren’t happy about” NFL Network’s use of the images of players and coaches in the $100M ad campaign against cable operators not carrying the network. Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden and Cowboys WR Terry Glenn are among the personalities in the ads, and Stroud said, “I spoke with (Buccaneers COO) Eric Land, who said they should have gotten pre-approval to use those images. The situation has been corrected and now they are no longer using them” (“Cold Pizza,” ESPN2, 8/8). On Long Island, Neil Best notes recent NFL Network ads that say the December 30 Giants-Redskins game is among those Cablevision subscribers would miss should a carriage deal with Time Warner not be reached “are misleading. ... Everyone in the [N.Y.] area can see that game, because viewers get their home teams’ games on an over-the-air channel” (NEWSDAY, 8/8).

ESPNU ALSO IMPACTED: MULTICHANNEL NEWS’ R. Thomas Umstead reports ESPNU “lost about 700,000 subscribers” as part of Time Warner’s Adelphia acquisition. The network “also lost 500,000 of the 1.7 million Adelphia subscribers that Comcast gained” under the acquisition. ESPN execs said that they are “negotiating directly with the cable providers on reinstatement and don’t plan to ask the FCC for help” (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 8/7 issue).