Carolina Panthers President and NFL Vice President Address State Legislators

Carolina Panthers President and NFL Vice President Address State Legislators

Cite consumers' concerns about Time Warner raising rates and blocking access to popular programming

COLUMBIA, S.C., May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at a Senate public hearing in Columbia, Mark Richardson, president of the Carolina Panthers, and Frank Hawkins, Vice President of the National Football League, called on South Carolina lawmakers to create a neutral arbitration process to resolve disputes between cable companies and independent programmers like NFL Network. Time Warner and Comcast are blocking NFL Network from millions of South Carolina consumers.

Richardson and Hawkins testified before the Senate Judicial subcommittee.

"The dream to bring a football team to the South Carolina took a long time to realize," said Richardson. "Our fan base has grown every year, but we are still a young team compared to some NFL stalwarts like the Packers and Cowboys. NFL Network has something for everyone -- those who know little can learn about the Panthers, and those who know more can become avid fans. NFL Network is going to be a huge component of the Carolina Panthers future success, and we could not succeed without our fans having a chance to watch us.

"But the nation's largest cable companies -- two of which, Comcast and Time Warner, are also dominant cable providers in South Carolina -- discriminate against NFL Network and other independently owned networks. They favor channels that they own by refusing to carry our content unless we agree to allow them to charge their customers extra for a premium package," said Richardson.

"Simply put, NFL Network is treated unfairly because it is not owned by a cable company.

"Those cable companies have 'bottleneck' power -- they control access to their customers, so they are able to pay more attention to their profit margins than what their customers want," said Richardson. "As a result, our fans aren't getting the programming they want."

Richardson said the proposed arbitration system would be an efficient, consumer focused dispute resolution system to level the playing field between cable operators and independent networks such as the NFL Network. "If a cable company has a dispute with a customer, they go to arbitration. We are just saying if an independent television network has a dispute with a cable company that owns competing channels, that dispute could be settled with arbitration. It's a fair process that will benefit North Carolina consumers.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Football 24/7 Carolina

CONTACT: Ballard Everett, Regional Coordinator, Football 24/7 Carolina,
+1-919-272-0297

---

Profile: International Entertainment