Time Warner Cable pulled the NFL Network out of its lineup without warning Tuesday because of a fee dispute, taking the network away from at least 1.6 million households in the Los Angeles area.
In turn, NFL Network on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, asking that Time Warner be required to restore a carriage agreement for 30 days. The network contends that when Time Warner abruptly dropped it from its programming, federal rules were violated.
The move against the league-owned network comes one day after Time Warner Inc. and Comcast Corp. completed the purchase of Adelphia Communications Corp., which had filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002.
With the purchase, Time Warner now controls Adelphia's 1.1 million cable households in the L.A. region and, in an asset swap, Comcast's 500,000 households here.
A number of these subscribers were unhappy about losing NFL Network, which this season will offer 52 preseason games and eight regular-season games.
Richard Medina of Buena Park, previously an Adelphia subscriber, was one of them.
"We get a channel that shows us how to hang wallpaper, but we can't get a channel that televises preseason NFL games," Medina said, adding that he had been looking forward to seeing former USC stars Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart with their NFL teams.
Time Warner Cable, which had been servicing 360,000 homes in the L.A. market, has been unable to come to terms on a carriage agreement, contending NFL Network is asking for a 350% fee hike, mostly for the new eight-game package that kicks in Thanksgiving Day.
NFL Network denies the fee hike is that high, although spokesman Seth Palansky declined to discuss numbers.
He said the crux of the dispute, instead, is Time Warner's desire to put NFL Network on a digital pay tier. The network is demanding it be allowed to remain part of the basic cable package to reach as many households as possible.
A wider distribution enables NFL Network to charge more for advertising.
With Monday's merger, Time Warner, Charter and Cox now control the majority of the L.A. cable market -- 52% of 5.3 million households. DirectTV and Dish Network control the satellite market, which represents 28%. NFL Network also does not have a carriage deal with Charter, but does with the other three.
