Local NFL Fans Lose Network in Fee Dispute

Time Warner Cable pulled the NFL Network out of its lineup without warning Tuesday because of a fee dispute, taking the network away from at least 1.6 million households in the Los Angeles area.

In turn, NFL Network on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, asking that Time Warner be required to restore a carriage agreement for 30 days. The network contends that when Time Warner abruptly dropped it from its programming, federal rules were violated.

The move against the league-owned network comes one day after Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. completed the purchase of Adelphia Communications Corp., which had filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002.

With the purchase, Time Warner now controls Adelphia’s 1.1 million cable households in the L.A. region and, in an asset swap, Comcast’s 500,000 households here.

A number of these subscribers were unhappy about losing NFL Network, which this season will offer 52 preseason games and eight regular-season games.

Richard Medina of Buena Park, previously an Adelphia subscriber, was one of them.

“We get a channel that shows us how to hang wallpaper, but we can’t get a channel that televises preseason NFL games,” Medina said, adding that he had been looking forward to seeing former USC stars Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart with their NFL teams.

Time Warner Cable, which had been servicing 360,000 homes in the L.A. market, has been unable to come to terms on a carriage agreement, contending NFL Network is asking for a 350% fee hike, mostly for the new eight-game package that kicks in Thanksgiving Day.

NFL Network denies the fee hike is that high, although spokesman Seth Palansky declined to discuss numbers.

He said the crux of the dispute, instead, is Time Warner’s desire to put NFL Network on a digital pay tier. The network is demanding it be allowed to remain part of the basic cable package to reach as many households as possible.

A wider distribution enables NFL Network to charge more for advertising.

With Monday’s merger, Time Warner, Charter and Cox now control the majority of the L.A. cable market -- 52% of 5.3 million households. DirectTV and Dish Network control the satellite market, which represents 28%. NFL Network also does not have a carriage deal with Charter, but does with the other three.

Nationally, the 2 1/2 -year-old network has been able to reach agreements with cable and satellite companies that reach 65 million of the 91 million pay-television households. There are 26 million U.S. homes serviced by cable companies that don’t have a deal with NFL Network, and 15 million are Time Warner homes.

Patti Rockenwagner, a spokeswoman for Time Warner Cable in L.A., said her company would like to reach a deal.

“We have offered to carry NFL Network on our sports tier, similar to the way the network has been offered to many Comcast and Adelphia customers in the past,” she said. “What NFL Network is asking for is a 350% increase in rates for [essentially] eight games. That’s not a reasonable value for our customers.

“Our customers will still be able to watch more than 100 regular-season games on CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN -- all available in high definition,” she said. “Of the preseason games NFL Network is offering, 87% are on tape delay.”

Indeed, of the 52 preseason games -- the first of which airs Aug. 11 -- only six will be carried live, but only because the network cannot show more than one game at a time. Nineteen will be in high definition. There also will be midweek replays of four games -- two on Tuesdays and two on Wednesdays -- plus its usual round-the-clock NFL-related programming.

Said Palansky of Time Warner, “This is a company that is desperate to divert the issue of removing a channel you subscribed to without any advance notice.”

Neither Palansky nor Rockenwagner would discuss the subscriber fees NFL Network is asking, but the Sports Business Journal said the fees have gone from 25 to 35 cents per subscriber per month to 85 to 95 cents, and that there is a $2 surcharge for cable companies such as Time Warner that want to put the network on a digital pay tier.

Palansky said the network’s West Coast headquarters in Culver City was swamped with complaints. The Times also received a number of complaint calls.

Medina, the former Adelphia subscriber, said he got a message on Channel 178, which previously carried NFL Network, that in part read: “Nice to meet you. Hello, my name is Time Warner Cable.” And there was a scroll that told viewers the NFL Network was “asking you to pay a premium for eight out-of-market games you got free last year. We are negotiating a deal for you.”

Les Haan of Bellflower, previously a Comcast subscriber, said Channel 244 on his system began running a warning from NFL Network on Saturday.

Haan said he called Time Warner on Tuesday to complain, but got no satisfaction.

“DirecTV is coming to install a new system on Saturday,” he said. “Time Warner just lost a customer.”