Network
“I took it to be — my words — a not-so-thinly veiled threat,” Paul Tagliabue, the NFL commissioner from 1989 to 2006, said today at a U.S. hearing on whether Comcast has treated the leagues NFL Network fairly. His telephone conversation with Roberts was in January 2006, Tagliabue said. Comcast is the largest U.S. cable operator.
The league told the FCC that Philadelphia-based Comcast illegally moved the NFL Network to a little-watched corner of the cable operators channel lineup in 2007. Comcast says it moved the NFL Network properly to protect subscribers from high fees imposed after the network began showing eight live late- season games that Roberts wanted for Comcasts Versus network.
In written testimony submitted for the hearing at the Federal Communications Commission, Roberts, Comcasts chief executive officer, said he had no recollection of saying the NFLs relationships with the cable industry were going to get “complicated” or “very interesting,” as alleged by the NFL.
Among bidders for the eight games were Comcast, the NFL Network, NBC Universals USA Network, and News Corp.s Fox, which was considering creating a new cable sports network, Tagliabue said. He said Roberts saw the live NFL games as a way to help build Versus into a sports network to rival Walt Disney Co.s ESPN.
Judges Decision
Tagliabue testified as the hearing in Washington entered its fourth day before Administrative Law Judge Richard Sippel, who is to find facts and issue a recommendation for remedial action, if any is needed. Sippels decision would require agreement from the agencys politically appointed commissioners to take effect.
The former commissioner said he and Roberts spoke after the league decided to retain the rights to the eight late-season games for its own network.
“He said it was unfortunate,” Tagliabue said. “It was not going to be positive for the relationship between the NFL and the cable industry.” Tagliabue said he took “the cable industry” to mean other major cable operators.
In other conversations, Roberts “talked about various cable companies he had relationships with,” Tagliabue said. “He could be helpful or unhelpful.”
“He was talking about the cable industry doing things to us,” Tagliabue said.
Roberts may be among the witnesses Comcast will present during the hearing, the cable operator said in a pretrial filing.