L.A. City Council Seeks To Extend FCC Order On NFL Network

The L.A. City Council voted 7-1 on Friday in favor of a resolution that “encourages the [FCC] to extend indefinitely a temporary order issued Aug. 3 that required Time Warner to restore NFL Network to its customers,” according to Larry Stewart of the L.A. TIMES, who notes the original order runs through September 3. The dissenting vote came from Council member Bill Rosendahl, a former Adelphia exec who said that the parties “should work out their differences on their own.” But Council member Bernard Parks, who proposed the resolution, said that Time Warner’s dropping of NFL Network “is the city’s business because he believes it will force cable customers to turn to satellite services DirecTV and Dish Network.” Stewart notes cities accrue tax dollars from cable subs but not from satellite subs. In his resolution, Parks said that an “estimated 22,000 complaints had been lodged since Time Warner dropped NFL Network,” with Time Warner receiving 7,843 (L.A. TIMES, 8/21).

CHARTER: In St. Louis, Dan Caesar noted Charter Communications, Time Warner and Cablevision are “balking about paying the extra fee (believed to be about 70 cents per month per subscriber)” for NFL Network, and “like Time Warner, the balk between Charter and the network centers on where the programming would appear.” Charter wants to place the net on its digital sports package, which costs an extra $5 a month, but NFL Network “wants to be included in the general package.” Charter PR & Communications Manager Sharifah Williams said, “The amount of money they are asking us to pay would require us to pass that on to our customers, and we understand that not everybody is a football fan. On the sports tier, the people who are interested in it would pay to get it.” Caesar noted Charter carried NFL Network on the sports tier last season. NFL Network Communications Dir Seth Palansky said, “We charge a license fee, yes, but in exchange the cable operator gets several minutes of ad time that they get to sell and keep all revenue from. They’re making it back on ad revenue and not having to pass the cost to the consumer” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 8/20).