Chronic: NFL Network to be offered in Houston by Comcast

Comcast Houstonians, rejoice!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4797917.html

NFL Network to be offered here
Ruling enables Comcast to make games available

By DAVID BARRON
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Comcast Corp. said Friday it will add NFL Network to its recently acquired Houston system later this year, clearing the way for local cable customers to see several late-season NFL games they weren't able to watch a year ago.

The network's pending debut in Houston, one of the nation's largest markets in which NFL Network has not been available, comes in the wake of a Thursday ruling by New York state Supreme Court Justice Bernard J. Fried.

Fried, ruling in a lawsuit filed by the NFL against Comcast, said Comcast has the right to carry NFL Network on a narrowly distributed cable tier that has about 750,000 subscribers nationwide. It currently carries the channel on a digital tier that has about seven million subscribers.

Comcast said it will offer the NFL Network in Houston as part of its Sports Plus package, which costs $4 per month and includes nine other sports-themed channels.

NFL fans will foot the monthly 55-cent subscriber fee that the NFL charges Comcast, and costs will not be passed on all of Comcast's customers.

"Our customers who are NFL fans will be able to watch the NFL Network without burdening those who are not NFL fans with extra costs," said David L. Cohen, Comcast's executive vice president.

The NFL said it filed notice of appeal Friday.

"The final word on this issue is most likely going to come from the appellate courts," said network spokesman Seth Palansky. "If this decision is upheld, the biggest harm will be to consumers. They will have to pay more for less."

Time Warner Cable, which turned over control of the Houston cable system to Comcast late last year as part of an assets swap, has never carried NFL Network.

D'Arcy Rudnay, the company's vice president of corporate communications, said NFL Network should be available in Houston by the start of the 2007 NFL season.