The game clock is ticking for cable

August is going to be a "make or break" month for local cable companies Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications.  Why, you ask?  Just one word... football.

Mark these dates -- August 30th and September 14th.  Those are the two deadlines cable customers will be marking on their calendar, right next to the numbers of potential satellite or telco TV providers.  Football season is fast approaching and cable companies have some key holes in their defense to deal with.  Unless these are filled, local sports-loving cable customers will have no choice but to sign with another team.  All football metaphors aside, there are two or three key additions that cable must offer soon if they want to remain competitive against their rivals.

NFL NETWORK.  This is perhaps the longest-standing impasse of the sports channels.  Green Bay football fans have, for years, bemoaned the lack of NFL Network coverage in our state.  The furor heats up right around the middle of the season when the network's eight regular season exclusive games kick in.  So what's the big deal?  NFL Network wants prime placement on basic cable to ensure the widest possible distribution, plus a reportedly hefty carriage fee.  Cable companies have maintained that they should be able to put them on a sports tier, like NBA Network and NHL Network, so only sports fans who really want these channels will have to carry the burden of the pricey networks.

The lack of NFL Network on cable has been a minor inconvenience at best for casual sports fans, as WFRV has carried the NFL Network coverage of any Packers games that have come under the channel's domain.  This year, the urgency to carry NFL Network in Northeast Wisconsin is somewhat of a moot point, considering Green Bay isn't currently scheduled for any of NFL Network's primetime games.  Hard-core football fans would still love to have the 24-hour League-owned network to get their dedicated football fix year-round.

BIG TEN NETWORK.  The recently-launched Big Ten Network, a joint venture with Fox Cable Networks, is a different matter.  The channel carries Badger football and basketball, and the channel is in high-demand after UW sports fans got the shaft last season.  The situation is very much the same for Big Ten.  They want basic cable placement and, reportedly, around $1.10 per subscriber in Big Ten home territories.  By comparison, FSN Wisconsin reportedly received a $1.70 per sub license fee in 2007, making Big Ten's offering a relative bargain.

The addition of Big Ten Network is, undoubtedly, more urgent than the others because the Badger football season opener occurs on August 30th.  The outlook is good, but not great.  A deal was struck with Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator and local operator of Manitowoc's cable system, earlier this summer.  The deal supposedly gives Comcast the right to move the channel in the future, and the price may have come down to about 70-80 cents.  This gives a potential template to Charter and Time Warner's deals, which is a positive sign. 

The Des Moines Register reports that the conference's priority is to get the deals done this month.  Network president Mark Silverman says "we have three big deals to get done — Time Warner, Charter and Mediacom. We’re talking to all three right now. We (see) the next few weeks as vital in making progress on those deals and is it important to the success of the network? Absolutely."  Big Ten needs the deals to happen.  Time Warner and Charter need them just as much to stop the bleeding of customers to other services. 

WLUK (FOX 11) IN HD.  Like it or not, cable customers are moving to high-definition in staggering numbers.  To maintain their HD-loving, football-craving customer base, Time Warner finally sealing a deal with WLUK for HD is urgent.  Strike that.  Critical.  (Charter and Comcast have already done their deals, as have both satellite carriers and AT&T.)

FOX Sports has rights to ten of the Packers' regular season games this year, barring any flex-scheduling shifts to NBC later in the season.  Every major service provider in Northeast Wisconsin has made deals to carry WLUK's high-definition signal, so pressure on Time Warner to make it happen has never been higher.  There's little or no excuse for letting this long-standing feud fester any longer.

What isn't known at this time is when Time Warner's current carriage agreement expires with WLUK, or if a special negotiation will take place.  What is known, however, is that a fuzzy standard-definition FOX feed is no longer going to keep customers happy this football season.  The first regular season Packer game carried on FOX is the September 14th matchup with Detroit.

The clock is ticking.  The customers are waiting.