[Bette]

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones brings his battle against some of the nation’s largest cable companies to Austin. Jones was in town to announce that the NFL Network, which has the rights to broadcast eight games this season in HD, will be carried in Austin by Grande Communications.

Two of the games carried by the NFL Network this season will feature the Dallas Cowboys. Jones said he tried to get the games on the region’s biggest cable company, Time Warner, but was not able to reach an agreement. “There are 240 companies, plus satellites, that carry our network. But you’ve got some of the larger companies that are not,” Jones said. “How can it work for the business plans for all of those companies and not work in the business plans of the largest?”

Jones said a key sticking point in dealing with major cable providers is that the NFL wants its network to be carried as part of the basic cable package, while some companies want to put it in a special tier and charge a premium for the channel.
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[Racer Duck]

I had to go into Austin on business today and heard a commercial on the radio encouraging NFL fans to call Time Warner and complain about them not carrying the NFL network. The commercial implied TWC said they would as a "Prime" channel which is code for "pay", but the NFL folks are crying foul since satellite provides it as part of their basic package.

I have TWC (a "branch" operation out of Austin) and need to look into this for sure.