Down with the NFL Network and Cable Companies

Anyone without DirecTV knows that they won't be watching the primetime Dallas-Green Bay game unless they pay extra for it. It's scandalous at best that sports fans face such a dilemma.

I have DirecTV but I also commute to my job and stay 90 miles away from my home during the weekdays as I try to sell my house in one of the worst housing markets this country has seen. So I won't be home for this game, and will most likely have to watch it at a noisy, smoky bar somewhere in Virginia, where most customers will be anti-Cowboys.

The monopoly cable companies such as Comcast used to offer this channel on their basic cable lineup. It mysteriously disappeared, and once people complained, the finger pointing started. Here is one story explaining the situation. Here is a snippet of the article:

Not surprisingly, the big cable companies blame the NFL for the eclipse while the NFL points its finger at Big Cable. In a battle where billions of dollars ultimately may be at stake, each has launched a public relations campaign claiming it alone is acting altruistically for the public good.

That's dandy. Here's a quote that made me laugh:

"We will protect our customers from having to pay for a network that we don't think all of them would necessarily want to view," said David Cohen, executive vice president of Comcast.

Mr. Cohen, I watch cable with Comcast here in Virginia. Your basic package has about 35 channels I will never watch, Mr. Cohen, including the four home-shopping networks and the knife network. Why aren't you protecting me from networks that I don't watch?

What the NFL needs to do is take the game off the NFL Network and put it on FOX prime time television, where a game of this quality belongs. I don't really care who is at fault for blocking out 74 million people. I just know it's wrong and greedy.