Daytrader, on Suddenlink:

There is also something called Suddenlink Cable, but it looks like it's run by some redneck in the middle of nowhere.  They don't get any of the professional sports channels and their website says that they are still in the process of getting Caller ID for digital phone service.  I think I'll pass on that one.

Pete Abel writes in the comments to this article:

I'm with Suddenlink. I assure you we're run by a very professional, experienced management team. We don't currently offer NFL Network, but we'd love to. More information here.

In regards to negotiations with the NFL Network, the linked article states:

Suddenlink has tried repeatedly to reach a deal to carry the NFL Network. We even offered to give them their own channel, widely available to Suddenlink customers who want it. We told the NFL they could make that channel available for free, or set whatever price they wanted for it, and keep all revenues from it, including all advertising revenues. Under that option, Suddenlink would have made no money.

The NFL declined that offer and all others, reiterating that they would accept nothing less than the nearly $100 million in guaranteed payments they demanded three-plus years ago. We've made multiple new proposals since then; the NFL has not, effectively refusing to negotiate with us.

First, let me say this: Pete, please excuse Daytrader and myself for our comments. While you may not fit the stereotype of the redneck Texan, I assure you that we both fit the stereotype of the loud, obnoxious, know-it-all New Yorkers. (But you guys really need to work on the caller ID thing.)

Secondly: this feels like a good opportunity to reflect on how the NFL has, at every opportunity, seemingly gone out of its way to deny fans access to their product - football games.  Those of you who live near popular teams may be unaware of the NFL's blackout policy, which states: "In the NFL, any broadcaster that has a signal that hits any area within a 75-mile (120 km) radius of an NFL stadium may only broadcast a game if that game is a road game, or if the game sells out 72 hours or more before the start time for the game."

Then, the NFL sold the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket exclusively to Direct TV, meaning that people like me who live in apartments, or people who do not get good reception for various reasons to satellite feeds, cannot get their product. 

And now millions of Comcast customers are about to lose their access to NFL Network because of a dispute over what "tier" the network should be sold on.  The NFL wants its network to be a standard channel (like TNT or ESPN), which would require cable subscribers who do not want the channel to pay for it. Comcast (and other cable providers, like Time Warner, that have never had NFL Network) are refusing. 

Football is a great game, but it has the highest employee-to-asshole ratio of any major sport. Here's hoping that the NFL Network is someday remembered as the most bungled attempt to launch a network in the history of television.