G. Host
12-27-2007, 09:22 PM
http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/story/10546586
Three local TV stations thought they had one of the NFL's biggest games all to themselves. When the potentially historic Patriots-Giants matchup landed on their competitors, too, they accused the league of violating their contracts.
The NFL and the stations were "working through contractual issues" on Thursday, league spokesman Greg Aiello said.
"We are having private and confidential conversations with the NFL and are very hopeful that this unfortunate situation can be worked out to our satisfaction, in light of the fact we do have a valid contract for exclusive broadcast rights to the Patriots vs. Giants game in the Boston market," said Bill Fine, the president and general manager of ABC affiliate WCVB.
Now the other foot drops - those who are likely to lose money due to unprecidented deal are now "talking". They have a valid argument IMO as do those who signed up with DirectTV because the game was "unavailable" on regular network TV. They should have just moved the game to Fox, CBS or NBC within 12 days of game time per "rights".
Three local TV stations thought they had one of the NFL's biggest games all to themselves. When the potentially historic Patriots-Giants matchup landed on their competitors, too, they accused the league of violating their contracts.
The NFL and the stations were "working through contractual issues" on Thursday, league spokesman Greg Aiello said.
"We are having private and confidential conversations with the NFL and are very hopeful that this unfortunate situation can be worked out to our satisfaction, in light of the fact we do have a valid contract for exclusive broadcast rights to the Patriots vs. Giants game in the Boston market," said Bill Fine, the president and general manager of ABC affiliate WCVB.
Now the other foot drops - those who are likely to lose money due to unprecidented deal are now "talking". They have a valid argument IMO as do those who signed up with DirectTV because the game was "unavailable" on regular network TV. They should have just moved the game to Fox, CBS or NBC within 12 days of game time per "rights".