Going tubing

NFL plan friendly, YES Network a fan foe

Any analysis of the history of sports on television -- from the ancient days when games aired on free channels to today's malodorous array of networks, packages and events that fans pay through the nose to receive -- reveals at least two simple truths: 1) customer fees escalate without pause; and 2) people unable or unwilling to pay the rising prices, have their viewing options steadily narrowed.

You need look no further than the YES Network, which debuts Tuesday in New York, as evidence of how viewers can get shafted. YES, which will air 130 Yankees games and 75 Nets games each season (i.e., must-see TV for fans of front-runners) is in a nasty dispute with Cablevision, the cable provider that serves millions of customers in and around New York. At stake is whether YES will be available as part of Cablevision's basic cable package or as a premium channel.

One of two outcomes is certain. If YES is a premium channel, anyone who wants to keep up on the Yankees -- the network will carry a sickening stew of Yankees-related programming including pregame shows, re-broadcasts and minor-league games -- will have to break into his wallet. If the network ends up on basic, it won't be long before Cablevision's basic charge goes up for everyone.

In the meantime, while the nice folks at YES and Cablevision haggle over just how to screw as many baseball fans as possible, several million people won't get YES at all.

Yet even in the darkest histories, there are moments of light. One such moment shone through on Monday when NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced that the league plans to adjust its late-season Monday Night Football schedule to make sure the fans get good and meaningful matchups. Late in the year, if there's a clunker lined up for Monday Night, the league will take a better game from its Sunday schedule and move it to Monday.

Of course, there's some selfishness at foot. The NFL desperately wants to get its Monday ratings up. And even though the NFL will switch the start times four weeks in advance there will be casualties, namely the local ticket-holders who may be inconvenienced by the change in a game's start time (and date). But in the end, most sports viewers win out. How often do we get to say that?

As you might imagine, neither the folks at FOX or CBS, the networks that carry the NFL's day-slate of Sunday games, are all that happy about this. Those networks could block this plan, and they may just be mean (and greedy) enough to do it. But they'd take a bad P.R. hit, not to mention damage their relationship with the league. Besides, if this ends up satisfying more football fans, and it should, FOX and CBS will ultimately feel a carryover benefit. That's why this plan will go through -- even if the NFL and/or ABC, which carries the Monday night games, has to work out a little something on the side to placate FOX and CBS.

At ABC however, these are happy times. Dennis Miller is out, John Madden is in, which means smarter football talk and fewer Tchaikovsky references in the Monday games. The impact of that broadcaster change pales next to the impact that getting better games will have. Do you remember the 5-7 Chiefs taking on the 3-9 Patriots on a Monday night in 2000? Do you remember the 4-11 49ers lining up against the 4-11 Falcons on a Monday night the year before? Of course not. Did one single person aside from Tennessee natives and the people who love them tune in to the fourth quarter of the Titans' 31-0 win against the Cowboys on the last Monday broadcast of 2000? It's silly to think schedule makers can see today what the best games will be on a December weekend.

No one cares which network airs a big game. All viewers want is to see the best game at a convenient time and not have to feel as if they are being gouged as they watch. It's too bad that more sports television developments aren't as fan-friendly as the NFL's plan. In a better world fans would rise up and say No! to networks like YES. Actually, fans can say no, and a brave minority of them will. Thank goodness, they'll say, for radio.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy takes sides every Tuesday at CNNSI.com. The thoughts expressed here are solely those of the writer.

 

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