As NFL training camps open across the country, and stadiums prepare for next month's season opener, Time Warner Cable has yanked the nascent NFL Network from cable systems it acquired from Adelphia in such football crazed cities as Dallas, Cleveland and Buffalo, and not-so football crazed Los Angeles. The move has led the Federal Communications Commission to heed the calls of consumer groups — not to mention irate football fans — that TWC didn't follow the law when it pulled the channel because a cabler must give customers 30-days' notice before changing a channel lineup. TWC and the NFL are negotiating a new contract to carry the channel. However, the NFL wants its channel included in basic cable while TWC wants to offer it as a premium channel in a sports package. Although the FCC has ordered TWC to re-air the channel, it has ignored the order, according to media reports. This is not the first time TWC has pulled a channel during a contract dispute. Six years ago, during May sweeps TWC pulled ABC affiliates from 11 cable systems during a dispute with Disney over a contract concerning The Disney Channel. The cabler again ran amok of the 30-day rule, and ignored an FCC order for almost a week before agreeing to return the network to its cable systems. Of course, aside from a few hardcore football fans, odds are few TWC customers probably noticed this time around unlike the last time. It does bring up the question, who’s more dangerous, irate football fans missing a few NFL Films documentaries or infuriated soap opera addicts missing their stories?—Matthew Wurtzel
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