Soon after it launched in 2003, the NFL Network was hardly very tactful as it tried to bully itself onto the TV landscape. The result was a power struggle, with viewers caught in the middle, leading to courtroom drama that continues to drag out today against Comcast.

In the meantime, the other major cable players such as Time Warner, Cablevision or Charter sit on the sideline, still bitter about the pricing issues and where it wants to bury it on its tier of programming.

Lately, network boss Steve Bornstein has reportedly been trying to broker a deal with the all-sports cable channel he used to run, ESPN, hoping to get wedged into the struggling ESPN Classic slot and share ownership with the Disney Corporation.

Other than that, the Culver City-based network, which is available to more than 41 million homes as it starts its fifth year, is running just great.

There are those who say they know what's going on behind the scenes who now speculate that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell doesn't see the ESPN deal coming together. So where would that put the NFL Network with a Plan C?

Network spokesman Dennis Johnson will say: "We continue to explore all options to increase distribution for the quality, high-demand programming that we deliver on NFL Network."

The 24/7 football network, for the third season in a row, carries a slate of regular-season games that gives it more value, but also causes viewer angst (remember last year, when it had the New England Patriots' final regular-season game). The eight games this season are spread out over seven weeks (all but one on Thursday, starting in early November) instead of crammed into five weeks a year ago.

Key changes in the NFL Network programming this season include a new play-by-play man (Bob Papa in, Bryant Gumbel out) and a two-hour "NFL GameDay Morning" show (starts Sunday at 7 a.m.) hosted by Lakers play-by-play man Spero Dedes with Marshall Faulk, Warren Sapp and Adam Schefter.

"Warren Sapp is live on NFL Network," Sapp said this week. "Call your local cable provider."

If it was only that simple. Until then, DirecTV (Ch. 212), the Dish Network (Ch. 154) or Verizon Fios (Ch. 72) are the options.