NFL Seeks Balance in Cable Fray

This week the National Football League's definition of the New England Patriots' home market will shrink, even though the team has represented New England for nearly four decades, including markets such as Springfield, Burlington, and Hartford, where the Patriots nearly moved a decade ago. Yet, in accordance with league policy, only fans in the Boston metropolitan area and Manchester will be able to see Thursday night's showdown with the rival New York Jets on two ABC Network affiliates. Many other fans across New England will have to search for an outlet that gets the league-owned NFL Network, a cable channel that only about 40% of U.S. households receive. The suddenly shrinking New England market underscores the delicate dance the NFL has had to perform since it moved eight regular-season games to its fledgling cable channel in 2006 and tried to persuade major television distributors to pay about 75 cents per subscriber each month to include the network in its most widely distributed broadcast package.