Cowboys-Packers blackout? Make sports bar reservations now

Next Sunday’s Patriots-Colts game looks like the game of the year in the NFL. But the Nov. 29 game in Dallas between the Packers and Cowboys is no slouch. It could decide home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs. It could be a preview of the NFC Championship game.And it could be the smallest viewing audience in the Oklahoma City market for any Cowboys game ever show here.

That 7:15 p.m. Thursday game will be broadcast on the NFL Network, which is carried locally by Direct TV, DISH Network and Cox Digital. It is not carried by Cox in its basic cable package, and those who don’t get cable are out of luck to begin with.

I can’t think of a sporting event more important to local viewers that hasn’t been available to all basic cable subscribers in the Oklahoma City market, unless you count every OU football game ever shown on pay-per-view. Those are probably as big or bigger to most Oklahomans, but not more important.

I remember the outcry the first time a postseason baseball game was carried on a cable channel. But the viewers and fans aren’t the only people concerned this time. Jerry Jones, among other NFL owners, is trying hard to get the NFL Network carried as part of basic cable packages. Good luck with that.

Cable television executives say they’re trying to hold down rates for customers. Unless NFL owners are offering the NFL Network for free and from the goodness of their hearts, don’t look for it on basic anytime soon, unless cable rates creep up too.