Pats/Giants on Saturday night to be on free TV: "The Saturday night game in which the New England Patriots will be trying to set an NFL record by finishing the regular season with an undefeated record, will be simulcast on CBS and NBC, the NFL has just announced.
Originally, the 8:15 p.m. game against the Giants in East Rutherford, N.J., was scheduled to be carried only on the NFL Network. Because of a dispute with Time Warner and Comcast, that network is available in fewer than 40 percent of the nation's homes that have televisions.
"We have taken this extraordinary step because it is in the best interest of our fans," Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement."
Well, yes, and because the NFL didn't want to look bad.
Key to this: this is in the ratings interest of both CBS and NBC. Even though the game will be available on another major network, both NBC and CBS figure to get higher ratings than they would have with yet more recycled episodes of "Dateline NBC" and "48 Hours Mystery."
Again, we see the power of the NFL--they offer this game, and TWO networks jump at it.
