Ted Hearn

Like Cable, NFL's Goodell Can't Get NFL Sunday Ticket - Maybe

Evidently, NFL Commission Roger Goodell has something in common with Comcast and Time Warner Cable: He can’t get DirecTV’s NFL Sunday Ticket, either.

“I come from New York. I can’t get satellite in New York City,” Goodell told the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet last Wednesday.

DirecTV, the No. satellite provider with 16.8 million subscribers, has exclusive pay-TV rights to the NFL’s out-of-market package, shutting out commercially jealous Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

Meanwhile, the NFL is considering filing a complaint at the FCC to force Comcast and Time Warner Cable to distribute the NFL Network, the league-owned cable channel which airs live just 8 of 256 regular season games.

Goodell’s no-satellite-TV-in-my-home disclosure was a shock. Was Goodell -- BusinessWeek’s most powerful man in sports -- saying that he was no match for a snooty Upper West Side condo board that won't let a satellite dish litter the rooftop terrace?

It was hard to tell what he meant because Goodell’s official bio reads: “Roger and his wife Jane live in the New York City area with their twin daughters." Emphasis on the word area ours.

“The Commissioner was referring to the vast majority of people living in New York City who have no choice when it comes to cable operators.  They have Time Warner Cable. They can't get satellite or telco television service in apartment buildings and are thus shut out from NFL Network,” an NFL spokesman said by email.

That didn’t resolve the problem. Where exactly does Goodell live where he can’t get satellite TV?

“He did live in a Manhattan high rise for many years, but prefers to keep the location of his residence private,” the NFL spokesman continued.

The NFL spokesman did reveal that Goodell "doesn't currently live in a Manhattan high rise."

Maybe Goodell didn’t want to admit he lives on Long Island, in Westchester or, horrors, in New Jersey, because that would have ruined a good story. It didn't matter what he said because Goodell was not under oath on Capitol Hill.

Posted by Ted Hearn on March 7, 2008 | Comments (9)