TV stations yank Pats preseason Team quintupled fees for 3 games

Viewers in Maine were ready for some football Friday night, but thanks to some recently revised television rights fees, Bangor television stations WVII (Channel 7) and WFVX (Ch. 22) were not.

Officials at both Bangor stations and area New England Patriots fans were left feeling like Charlie Brown as he ran up to kick the ball held by Lucy Thursday after the Patriots informed New England stations that their rights fee for the Patriots’ three-game preseason package had been quintupled.

“I got back from vacation Monday and learned the price had gone up five times, making it a five-figure deal for three games and making it impossible for us to carry them,” said WVII general manager Mike Palmer. “After we gave them an earful on how this wasn’t fair, their response was that’s the way it is.”

Palmer explained that the higher fees were determined by the NFL and based on mathematical calculations relating to market size. The Patriots basically own the rights to their non-network preseason games and distribute them to local stations.

“I thought we had an agreement. They faxed us the terms sheet and I accepted, then they started backsliding and said the NFL had new obligations on revenue sharing and they couldn’t give us the original deal,” Palmer explained. “The Patriots guy I talked to had empathy, but he said his hands were tied.”

According to Palmer, the Patriots representative intimated that the team would actually likely make less money because many New England stations who were going to buy the three-game package have now dropped out.