Comcast Throws NFL Network for a Loss

CLEANING UP AT CABLEVISION

MULTICHANNEL NEWS
9-25-06

Comcast Corp. is blitzing the NFL Network. The nation's largest cable-system operator, which has 22 million sub scribers, plans to put the network on a digital tier of sports channels. That would take the NFL Net work off basic cable, which it has been insisting on, and could crimp its ability to reach most American homes with its package of eight live Thursday and Saturday games, which cost $300 million to acquire. A sports tier is typically sub scribed to by less than 10% of cable system's subscribers. And if Comcast parks it there, other big cable operators may follow suit. R. Thomas Umstead reports