The NFL Network sued Comcast because Comcast puts the NFL network on the sports tier. The judge has now ruled that Comcast discriminated against the NFL Network and will now decide whether Comcast will have to include the NFL network in their main package.
FCC sides with NFL Network in dispute with Comcast
From December 2007 - Bi-Partisan Group of Legislators Contacts FCC to Resolve Dispute Between Cable Companies and NFL Network for Fans
Since when does the government get to decide what channels a cable company must carry? Since when does the government even get to have a conversation on what channels a cable company should carry? Wow, we have strayed far from capitalism when the government steps into the completely irrelevant field of cable packages the government and begins issuing orders telling Comcast what to carry.
I never would have guessed that the NFL would put the final nail in the capitalism coffin, but their requests to force Comcast to carry their programming in the main package seem to just possibly do that. Maybe the government will begin to tell Clem's Collectibles what comics they must display prominently in the store. What's to stop them? The precedent has been set.
In the end, if the government is going to interfere with cable or satellite companies, I wish they would enforce a ban against bundling and allow me to buy a la carte. Here is an article I wrote on that in August 2006. A la carte programming is probably not en vogue in Washington because it would be a step toward capitalism, although nothing forced by the government is capitalism in its truest since.
Here's a toast to capitalism. It's sad that my children will never know you. I'll teach them fondly about you during their history classes. Oh capitalism - a relic of the twentieth century.
edited to add: I was informed that the government has control over these types of issues because Comcast is a monopoly. My goodness, that makes the situation even worse. Not only does the government recognize that a cable provider is a monopoly, but the only thing they do about is control it.
