Now customers will see fewer channels for the same price.
Not sure we have the whole story here.
The NFL charges the cable networks to carry the NFL Channel. Hypothetical case ... if the NFL charges Comcast $200/year and Comcast has 100 subscribers, then Comcast has to raise their rates $2/year for all 100 subscribers to cover the added cost. If Comcast knows that only 10 of their subscribers are NFL fans, they’ll make the NFL Network on a premium channel and charge those 10 customers an extra $20/year and leave the rate for the other 90 customers unchanged.