Tonight, the Green Bay Packers play the Dallas Cowboys. Both teams are 10-1. The winner will have the inside track on home field advantage in the NFC playoffs. Brett Favre and Tony Romo are playing. It is one of the top games of the year in the regular season. The Cowboys and the Packers are two of the most popular teams in the NFL.

It will be a great game, but most of America will not get to see it.

In an attempt to get an even bigger piece of the pie, the NFL started their own 24 hour network and, last year, aired a few games toward the end of the season. None of those games were as big as the Packers Cowboys game tonight.

The NFL Network is available via satellite for a price. It is available via cable for the extra cost of a premium service or sports tier package. Unless you live in a local market, you won’t see the Packers Cowboys game over the regular networks. That is a shame. The NFL wants the game carried on basic or expanded basic cable systems. The big cable companies want to place the NFL Network on a premium or sports tier that costs extra. Of course, Bresnan Cable in Montana follows of the lead of these big cable giants by not offering the NFL Network on the basic or expanded basic cable service, but you can get it for an extra price.

It’s all about the bottom line for the cable companies AND the NFL. Some fans don’t care to spend (or have) the extra money to see this game. You would think the advertisers would care that their commercials will only be viewed by about a fourth of the viewers of a regular NFL game?

Many of us remember when an NFL game being played on a Thursday or Saturday was televised nationally for all the fans to see. I predict we’ll see the NFL take more games off the networks in the future. We may have the NFL playoffs and the Superbowl as pay per view events. Imagine that.

One would hope the NFL and the Cable Companies would work something out. If the New England Patriots continue their undefeated way, the last game of the regular season for the Patriots will be televised on, you guessed it, the NFL Network. The Patriots may be on the verge of history that week. Too bad most of us won’t get to see the game.

We, the fans, are the losers tonight.