Comcast Goes Deep WIth Lawsuit Against NFL in Carriage Dispute

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Cable giant Comcast has pulled an audible in its ongoing skirmish with the NFL. It sued the league in NY Supreme Court today, claiming that NFL officials (the executives, not the refs) are violating a contract and waging a "multimillion dollar marketing campaign to drive Comcast's customers to its competitors."

The two sides have been embroiled in a year-long dispute over whether Comcast should carry the NFL Network as part of its basic programming, as satellite service DirecTV does. Comcast wants to charge its customers an additional monthly fee for access to the channel. In May, the NFL Network lost a challenge to Comcast's fee when the New York Supreme Court ruled Comcast was within the rights of its contract and "entitled to distribute the NFL Network on a sports tier under the agreements between the parties." (The NFL Network is appealing.)

The NFL broadcasts eight regular-season games exclusively on its NFL Network. The league recently blitzed the media (sorry, last football reference) with a marketing campaign aimed at those upset fans without current access to the NFL Network. In response, Comcast sent the league a cease-and-desist letter, noting the league's iwantnflnetwork.com "violates the contract between the network and Comcast," by telling customers to "switch to a TV provider that will bring you NFL Network, not hold you hostage."

In Comcast's latest suit, the giant cable operator is asking for unspecified damages for lost customers and a permanent injunction that forces the NFL to end its campaign.

The dispute has also revived talk about a new law that would require à la carte programming, where customers get to decide which networks they want to pay for, rather than being forced to accept them in bundled tiers.