Cowboys owner urges fans to boycott cable
The Associated Press and Wausau Daily Herald
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says he feels for Packers fans who will miss the team's Nov. 29 game against the Cowboys.
"How often are you going to have an opportunity to see Brett Favre and a really great Green Bay Packers team play an up-and-coming player that has a lot of flair to his game?" Jones said, referring to Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo. "And a Dallas team that is playing well. If you miss that live, you've missed it. And it may not come again."
Most Wisconsin cable subscribers won't be able to watch the game on the NFL Network, which is available only on satellite systems or small cable companies. Charter Communications and Time Warner, the two largest cable providers in Wisconsin, the prior being the provider in the Wausau area, have yet to reach a deal with the network to carry its programming.
It's unlikely they will cut a deal before game time, Jones said Wednesday in a telephone interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In Green Bay and Milwaukee, the game will be available on regular broadcast television. But here in Wausau and in other locations, including Madison, it won't.
Jones suggested football fans drop their cable subscriptions and sign on with one of the satellite television companies that carry the NFL Network.
Many in the Wausau area began to do just that when they realized they also could not get the Wisconsin Badgers game last weekend against No. 1 Ohio State, which was carried on the Big Ten Network, also available here only on satellite TV.
The NFL Network wants to be carried as part of cable companies' expanded basic cable; the cable operators want to offer subscribers the choice of whether to pay to see the games by including them on a sports tier.
Wisconsin legislators are drafting legislation to establish an arbitration system to settle disputes between sports networks and cable companies.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says he feels for Packers fans who will miss the team's Nov. 29 game against the Cowboys.
"How often are you going to have an opportunity to see Brett Favre and a really great Green Bay Packers team play an up-and-coming player that has a lot of flair to his game?" Jones said, referring to Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo. "And a Dallas team that is playing well. If you miss that live, you've missed it. And it may not come again."
Most Wisconsin cable subscribers won't be able to watch the game on the NFL Network, which is available only on satellite systems or small cable companies. Charter Communications and Time Warner, the two largest cable providers in Wisconsin, the prior being the provider in the Wausau area, have yet to reach a deal with the network to carry its programming.
It's unlikely they will cut a deal before game time, Jones said Wednesday in a telephone interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In Green Bay and Milwaukee, the game will be available on regular broadcast television. But here in Wausau and in other locations, including Madison, it won't.
Jones suggested football fans drop their cable subscriptions and sign on with one of the satellite television companies that carry the NFL Network.
Many in the Wausau area began to do just that when they realized they also could not get the Wisconsin Badgers game last weekend against No. 1 Ohio State, which was carried on the Big Ten Network, also available here only on satellite TV.
The NFL Network wants to be carried as part of cable companies' expanded basic cable; the cable operators want to offer subscribers the choice of whether to pay to see the games by including them on a sports tier.
Wisconsin legislators are drafting legislation to establish an arbitration system to settle disputes between sports networks and cable companies.
posted by The Gryphon at 1:52 PM
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