John Kerry Threatens The NFL
He says he’ll be holding Senate hearings if the NFL doesn’t put the Patriots-Giants game on national television instead of the NFL network.
With the New England Patriots now one win away from finishing the regular season undefeated, Sen. John Kerry is stepping up his campaign to get the final game broadcast on national television.
The contest Saturday with the New York Giants is to air locally in Boston and New York. But outside those markets it is scheduled to appear only on the NFL Network, a cable channel that reaches just 35 million households nationwide while the league and cable operators dicker over pricing and distribution.
Kerry asked football Commissioner Roger Goodell today to move the game to NBC – and threatened Senate hearings if he does not.
Now, personally, I wish football would keep its television broadcasts as it has in the past. Mostly because I don’t subscribe to cable or satellite meaning I can’t watch games on the NFL network, and also because I’ve heard that the game broadcasts - including the announcing - has been horrible so far on the football league’s channel.
But that doesn’t mean I think Congress should get involved in the matter. Far from it.
The NFL is a private interest, and thus should be able to broadcast their games on television as they see fit without interference from meddling politicians like John Kerry. Congress getting involved in this matter would be a gross abuse of federal power, one that the founders I’m sure would have found atrocious.
