Giants-Pats available nationwide

[trogdor]

Source: SI.com

The game against the New York Giants, in which the Patriots could become the first NFL team to go 16-0 in the regular season, was originally scheduled to be shown only on the NFL Network, which is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes with TVs.

But the league announced Wednesday that the NFL Network feed will be simulcast on NBC and CBS. It's a major concession by league officials, who repeatedly said they would not show the game anywhere but the NFL Network. The NFL had faced mounting pressure from politicians in recent weeks to make the game available to more viewers.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/nfl/12/26/bc.fbn.patriots.giants.tv.ap/index.html?eref=si_topstories

---

The politican's name who applied this pressure? Did he get credit? Hell motherfarking no. It was Sen. Kerry of Massachusetts.

[babylonsister]

1. WowWowWow! Now the Giants can

go down in flames and everyone can watch! :hide: Kudos to Kerry, and I'm a Giants fan so I can say that, sadly.

[frebrd]

11. I guess that means some other teams'...

last game of the season will be preempted. Never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad the Seahawks game is on Fox.

Sorry - replied to the wrong post. :-(

[insleeforprez]

17. Actually

This game won't preempt any other game. This game will be Saturday night, and it was to air on the NFL Network, which a minority of TV-viewers have access to.

Gooooo Pats.

[alcibiades_mystery]

25. Giants would be crazy to play their starters

They are locked in for the playoffs and this game means nothing to them. They should play the second string and rest up.

[durrrty libby]

2. Good job Senator Kerry, now don your flak jacket for incoming

:popcorn:

[matcom]

3. he can't get 'em outta Iraq but he can GET THINGS DONE DAMMIT!

:rofl:

[desi]

5. Dangit...

After I downloaded that deal (works good btw) and told everybody here we were going to watch it in spite of the NFL :toast:

edit:Oops, just saw who else roots for the Giants...GOOOOOooooo Brady...GOOOooooPats...

[NewYorkerfromMass]

19. Yeah. Kerry lit up the boston.com messageboard

earlier this week: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2007/12/kerry_presses_n.html

[TheWatcher]

20. Yes, THANK GOD You Can Have Your Precious Football Game

America may very well have been finished had Kerry and some brave congressional Members not been fighting hard for us in the Trenches.

It was a long, hard battle, but they saved the day, and saved America.

By the way, is the War Over Yet? Has the government stopped spying on you? Is the economy still robust?

[ProSense]

24. Is Congress in session?

Are you complaining that they shouldn't be on vacation?

Were you complaining two days ago?

[karynnj]

28. Pretty sarcastic, aren't you?

Kerry and the other Senators and their staff can multi task - and this does not seem to have been a major time sink. The fact is that both the NFL and the cable companies are allowed to be monopolies and as such should be subject to regulation of some sort as normal market constraints do not apply.

Sentaor Kerry has been a positive force on the issues you list - I assume he would prefer more publicity on things like the conferences he had in Bali on global warming or the raise in the CAFE standards.

This is a small win - that he and others got mainly by lending their voice to people who do not have one. What's wrong with that?

[wisteria]

31. No, but you should try to grab a little happiness wherever you can find it.

It is OK to have some fun too. We all still hope for an end to the war, prosperity for all and a fair and just society.

[ret5hd]

4. Well, thank god we'll have a circus to keep us distracted!

[tom_paine]

7. Since our "bread" is rapidly devaluing, our circuses need to be double-strength

I say this as a football fan who is absolutely thrilled about the fact that the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who are in actuality the sixth or seventh best team in NFL history, will stop being propped up by their achievement based on a weak schedule.

Are the '72 Dolphins among the NFL Greatest Teams? Yes, but sixth or seventh, not the best ever, even before the '07 Pats came along.

[Teaser]

15. Yeah I hope the Cheatriots win too.

So I can sully the achievement with their dubious ethics every chance I get.

[tom_paine]

34. LOL. That's a good reason, too.

:rofl:

[Captain Angry]

6. My team had the good decency to choke early in the season.

They were good enough to make sure that there would be no controversy at the end of the year.

:-)

[Tresalisa]

8. I'm happy that they decided to show the game on other networks!

Now I can stay home, nice and warm, drink beer and watch what hopefully will be history being made! :beer: This Cowboys fan says HOORAY!!!

[FreeStateDemocrat]

9. Senator Kerry has become a punching bag for pukes & even some Democrats, regardless of what he

does. He is a sincere, hardworking, intelligent man that deserves far better treatment, especially from his fellow Democrats. If we had fifty more senators like him, this country would be immeasurable better off.

[YvonneCa]

16. WAaaaay...

...better off. Thanks, Senator Kerry.

[fascisthunter]

23. He's My Senator... I Stand by Him

he works very hard.

[Democrafty]

27. Hear, hear! n/t

[politicasista]

29. Yep. He still is a punching bag here

and he isn't even running for pres. Not to mention working on progressive legistlation that people complain about.

[wisteria]

32. I agree with you entirely. n/t

[rcsl1998]

10. Add Senator Whitehouse. He Was Also...

...applying pressure to the NFL. ...but Senator Kerry was definitely in the forefront on this. Small 'battle' but a pleasant result.

[Divine Discontent]

12. I immediately did a keyword search

on the AP sportswriter's column on yahoo news, and she gave him credit -

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-patriots-giants-tv&prov=ap&type=lgns

"I couldn't be more thrilled that as the Patriots rush toward an historic undefeated season, football fans everywhere have won a victory of their own," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who had urged cable and NFL executives to settle the dispute. "With today's announcement, the NFL showed their loyalty to the sports fans who made the NFL an empire in the first place.

"The best news of all is that now no die-hard Pats fans will be shut out from watching their team take aim at football history," Kerry said in a statement.


Kerry works hard on EVERY issue, not just ones that help relax us, or give us 'sport'.

[globalvillage]

13. Kerry Applauds Victory for Football Fans:

Historic Pats-Giants Game Will Be Broadcast Nationwide on Network Television
Senator Thanks NFL for Acting in Public Interest

BOSTON, MA - Senator John Kerry made the following statement about the announcement that this weekend’s historic New England Patriots-New York Giants game will be available on network television. For weeks, Kerry has urged cable and NFL executives to settle their dispute over how to broadcast the game, which if left unsettled, would have blocked millions of fans across the country from being able to view it without paying extra for a premium tier package that includes the NFL Network. A victory this weekend would mean the Patriots finished the season as the first team to go undefeated since the Miami Dolphins in 1972.

"I couldn't be more thrilled that as the Patriots rush towards an historic undefeated season, football fans everywhere have won a victory of their own. With today's announcement, the NFL showed their loyalty to the sports fans who made the NFL an empire in the first place.

“The best news of all is that now no die hard Pats fans will be shut out from watching their team take aim at football history. I want to commend NFL executives for delivering for fans everywhere. What a great gift the day after Christmas."

[karynnj]

18. Very nice, gracious statement

It really was a win for the sports fans and they are the ones who are the NFL's base.

[TheWatcher]

21. America, Are You Not Entertained?

[ProSense]

14. Excellent! n/t

[tyedyeto]

22. This thread is allowed to stand but......

this one http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2534354 is relegated out of GD?

[KaptBunnyPants]

26. Hell yeah!

I'm getting sick of the NFL putting all the best games on the NFL network. They've put two Cowboys games on there this year alone, and there's no way in hell I'm paying Murdoch to watch football.

[wisteria]

30. Yes, the media is beside themselves and they can't bring themselves to give credit when it is due.

It is absolutely shocking how they have reported around the real negotiator in all of this- Senator Kerry.
This latest example of media bias is just so outrageous it needs to be brought to everyones attention.

[BuelahWitch]

33. Why does it need to be on TWO networks?

This is why non-football fans get pissed. The fucking sport just takes over everything and to hell with anything else.

[insleeforprez]

35. This is the first time this has happened in 40 years

It would be horribly unfair to give it to *one* network, so they gave it to two to share. The last time they gave two networks the right to broadcast a game was Super Bowl I. We're at XLII now.