Cowboys owner says he feels for Packers fans who won’t see game

Associated Press- Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says he
feels for Packers fans who will miss the team’s Nov. 29 game against the
Cowboys.

“How often are you going to have an opportunity to
see Brett Favre and a really great Green Bay Packers team play an up-and-coming
player that has a lot of flair to his game?” Jones said, referring to
Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo. “And a

Dallas team that is playing well. If you miss
that live, you’ve missed it. And it may not come again.”

Most

Wisconsin cable
subscribers won’t be able to watch the game on the NFL Network, which is
available only on satellite systems or small cable companies. Time Warner and
Charter Communications, the two largest cable providers in

Wisconsin, have not reached a deal with the
network to carry its programming.

And, it’s unlikely they will cut a deal before game time,
Jones said Wednesday in a telephone interview with the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel.

In

Milwaukee and

Green Bay, the game will
be available on regular broadcast television. But in

Madison and other spots, it won’t.

Jones suggested football fans drop their cable
subscriptions and sign on with one of the satellite television companies that
carry the NFL Network.

“They’re not going to get that game on cable,”
Jones said. “That’s it, and I don’t think they are going to get it for
this season, and certainly not as it pertains to when the Dallas Cowboys play
the Green Bay Packers.”

A Time Warner spokeswoman said the company was talking
with the NFL.

“Everything comes down to a cost and how it relates
to the customer,” spokeswoman Stacy Zaja said. “We feel this
programming does belong on a sports tier so that customers who want that type
of programming can subscribe to it for their home.”

The NFL Network wants to be carried as part of cable
companies’ expanded basic cable.

Wisconsin

legislators are drafting
legislation to establish an arbitration system to settle disputes between
sports networks and cable companies.

In the meantime, Jones said he will continue to try to
rally football fans around the NFL Network.

“The reason why we want to develop this network is to
expand fan interest and expand fan availability to our ball games,” Jones
said. “… The cable companies want to build an asset for themselves that
won’t benefit Dallas Cowboys fans.”