Comcast sued NFL Enterprises, alleging violations of their 2004 c...

the NFL from running Web sites urging fans subscribing to Comcast to switch to a pay-TV provider offering wider carriage of the NFL Network. Comcast offers the network on a sports tier. It also wants a ban on e-mails inciting provider switches, it said in a Thursday filing to the state Supreme Court in New York City, a trial court. “NFL has embarked on what has been described as a multimillion dollar marketing campaign” to get Comcast subscribers to defect, the complaint said. It sought unspecified damages. The suit signals that Comcast is “a little nervous” about the network’s marketing, an NFL Network spokesman said. The marketing is a “perfectly legitimate” way to “make sure that consumers know all of their options for getting NFL Network,” he said. Separately, Time Warner Cable President Glenn Britt proposed that the league agree to show a coming Patriots- Giants game on a broadcast network. Britt was responding to a request by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to meet with the cable operator, Comcast and NFL. “We're not sure such a meeting between the NFL and two cable operators would advance our mutual goal,” Britt wrote. If the NFL won’t show the game on terrestrial TV, Time Warner Cable will consider airing it free as a one-time offer for digital subscribers, he wrote. The network seemed reluctant to consider such a deal. “When they start giving away their content for free we can talk,” said the NFL Network spokesman. Writing Thursday to Kerry, NFL executive Pete Abitante said the channel should be offered in an “easily accessible and affordable” way year- round by Comcast and Time Warner Cable. “We are prepared to negotiate immediately -- anytime and anywhere -- with Time Warner and Comcast for a long-term solution,” wrote Abitante, special assistant to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “We are fully prepared to meet with you next week along with” the two other companies.