Jones Asks Fans to Cancel Cable, Go With Satellite

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones keeps beating the drum on why the NFL Network should be on basic digital cable television.

The 24/7 football network, which carries eight regular-season games starting Thanksgiving Day, is still battling for placement in the cable world. Large cable companies refuse to include the network on digital digital packages, choosing instead to force already over-charged customers to pay even more for digital "tier" service if those football fans just can't live without those eight games on their home television screens.

Jones, who last month was appointed chairman of the NFL Network Committee -- the executive board of the league's year-round television service -- remains rankled by the large cable companies' refusal to play along with the NFL's vision for its network.

"The larger cable companies want to tier us,'' Jones said today during an interview with CNBC's Darren Rovell. "That won't work. Our fans have to cancel the Time Warners and the Comcasts and go with competing satellite or telcom products."

That's easy for Jones to say. His league for years has put games out of reach of the average fan who doesn't have satellite service. The NFL's' "Sunday Ticket'' package of all out-of-market games is only available through the DirecTV satellite network.

The cable companies know most subscribers won't endure the hassle of altering their service, even for those eight NFL games. Switching to satellite isn't always practical, especially when home telephone or broadband connections are linked to cable service.

Plus, there's always the local sports bar to catch those eight games on the big screen.

Right now, the NFL Network is seen in about 35 million of the 112.8 million U.S. households with televisions.

Photo of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones by Rob Tringali

"My immediate and primary objective is to ensure broad distribution of NFL Network to our millions of fans across the land," Jones said last month.

Right.

Both sides are to blame for this money grab.

If the NFL really wanted every game to be available to everyone, they wouldn't make exclusive deals with satellite providers, which immediately exclude millions of fans.

And if cable companies thought it would be more profitable to send every customer a higher monthly bill for adding the NFL Network to digital basic, they would do that in a heartbeat.