NFL Network

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NFL Network

Launched	November 4, 2003
Owned by	National Football League
Country	United States
Website	NFL Network
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 212 Channel 95 (HDTV)
Dish Network	Channel 154 Channel 9426 (HDTV)
Cable
Verizon FiOS	Channel 72 Channel 828 (HDTV)
Comcast	Channels Vary
Cox Communications	Channels Vary
Insight Communications	Channel 547 HD Channel Varies
Midcontinent Communications	Channels Vary

NFL Network is an American specialty channel owned and operated by the National Football League (NFL) and is also shown in Canada and Mexico. It was launched November 4, 2003, only eight months after all of the league's 32 team owners voted unanimously to approve its formation. The league invested $100 million to fund the network's operations.

NFL Films produces commercials, television programs, and feature films for the NFL. It is a key supplier of NFL Network's programming, with more than 4,000 hours of footage available in their library. Thus, much of the network's highlights and recaps feature NFL Films' trademark style of slow motion game action, sounds of the game, and the talk on the sidelines.

Beginning with the 2006 season, the channel began to broadcast eight prime time regular season NFL games, dubbed "The Run to the Playoffs". In addition, the network provided additional coverage of the 2006 NFL Draft from Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 29 and 30 in conjunction with ESPN and ESPN2.

The NFL Network broadcasts out of studios in Los Angeles, California.

1 Executives
2 Live NFL games
3 Other Football
4 Programming
- 4.1 Current
- 4.2 Former
5 Service
- 5.1 Outlets
  - 5.1.1 Current
  - 5.1.2 International distribution
6 NFL Network HD
7 Controversy
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Executives

Steve Bornstein, President and CEO; also, the NFL's Executive Vice President of Media (also the former Chairman of ESPN, and served as president of ABC)
Steve Sabol, President of NFL Films (sports filmmaker, winner of multiple Emmy Awards)
Howard Katz, Chief Operating Officer of NFL Films (veteran TV sports executive; former president of ABC Sports; former ESPN Senior Vice President)
Judy Fearing, Senior Vice Preident of Consumer Marketing (former ESPN and Pepsi marketing executive)

[edit] Live NFL games

Main article: Run to the Playoffs

The NFL Network televised eight live regular season games during the 2006 season. They ran on either Thursday or Saturday nights, beginning Thanksgiving evening[1]. Five games aired on Thursday nights and three on Saturday nights. These games also aired on broadcast TV in the primary media markets of the participating teams, although the home team's market broadcasts the game only if it is sold out 72 hours before game time.

Veteran TV announcer Bryant Gumbel was the play-by-play announcer, and former FOX and current NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth was color commentator for six games. Collinsworth missed two Saturday games due to his NBC commitments. Dick Vermeil was his replacement in that event.

Since the games were blacked out to most fans, or only available on extended tiers for premium pricing on many cable distributors, this move has suffered heavy criticism. Consumers and cable companies alike claim that the NFL network is asking for excessive fees. In the fall of 2006, the United States Congress began hearings into whether airing NFL games on an NFL-owned network violates the spirit or letter of existing legislation regarding broadcasts of NFL games.

These games are also broadcast on Westwood One Radio in the United States and by TSN in Canada.

In August 2007, the network is scheduled to televise the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints.

[edit] Other Football

[edit] NFL preseason

NFL Network televises a total of 54 NFL preseason games. Although some are aired live, a majority of these contests air on a tape-delayed basis, using the home team's local broadcast for the first half and the visitors' broadcast for the second half.

[edit] NFL Europa

NFL Network currently broadcasts all 30 regular season games of NFL Europa (formerly NFL Europe) from March through May. The network also televises the World Bowl, the league's championship game.

[edit] College football

NFL Network televised the Insight Bowl between Minnesota and Texas Tech on December 29, 2006, from Tempe, Arizona.[2]

The 2006 Insight Bowl featured the biggest comeback in NCAA Division I-A bowl history, with Texas Tech coming back from a 38-7 third-quarter deficit to win 44-41 in overtime. The network has made the game available for free online viewing at its site.[3]

The network also broadcast the Texas Bowl in Houston, whose promotion rights are owned in part by the NFL's Houston Texans. It was played December 28, 2006. Rutgers defeated Kansas State, 37-10.[4]

The network also showed a college all-star games after the season. The Under Armour Senior Bowl, in Mobile, Alabama which was played on January 27, 2007.[5] NFL Network was also expected to show the Las Vegas All-American Classic in Henderson, Nevada on January 15, but the game was canceled due to lack of sponsorship.

[edit] Programming

[edit] Current

4 Quarters
America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions
College Scoreboard
NFL Films Game of the Week
NFL Cheerleader Playoffs
NFL GameDay
NFL Replay
Super Bowl Classics
NFL Films Presents
NFL Network Now
NFL Scoreboard
NFL Total Access
Path to the Draft
Point After
Red Zone

[edit] Former

Coachspeak
Film Session
Football America
In Their Own Words
Playbook
Six Days To Sunday
Sounds of the Game

[edit] Service

The channel is a cable and satellite television network offering a linear standard-definition channel; a high-definition simulcast feed (NFL Network HD); and video-on-demand product including extended game highlights and Emmy-Award winning programs from the NFL Films library.

[edit] Outlets

[edit] Current

Comcast
Cox Communications
DirecTV
Dish Network
Chippewa Valley Cable
Verizon FiOS TV
Insight Communications
NPS (National Programming Service)
Knology (all shows except Run to the Playoffs)
RCN (all shows except Run to the Playoffs)
WOW
Midcontinent Communications
Wave Broadband

[edit] International distribution

NFL Network is also available on most major service providers in Canada, including Bell ExpressVu, StarChoice, Rogers Cable, Shaw Communications, and Cogeco. Regular-season NFL broadcasts will be blacked out in Canada to protect TSN, which has purchased exclusive Canadian rights to the Thursday-Saturday package. NFL Network is also shown in Mexico.

[edit] NFL Network HD

NFL Network HD is a high definition simulcast of NFL Network. It launched in August 2004.

It is available on:

Verizon's FiOS (814)
Dish Network (9426)
National Programming Service

Comcast uses either INHD or an HD Special Events (HD-SE) channel to air NFL Network HD programming. This includes the 8 Thursday/Saturday games & the 90 minute "NFL Replay" showings.

[edit] Controversy

NFL Network is as of March 2007 embroiled in a dispute with several cable companies, including the United States second-largest cable provider, Time Warner Cable over carriage.

NFL Network insists it be placed on basic service and wish to charge the cable companies a monthly rate of $0.70 per subscriber during the NFL season, while Time Warner wishes to place it on a sports tier so as to avoid passing the cost onto those subscribers who do not wish to receive it.[6] NFL Network's position is that Time Warner's demands are unreasonable and many other providers place NFL Network on a basic tier without subscriber backlashes. [7] Other major cable companies not carrying NFL Network are Cablevision, and Charter Communications.

NFL Network offered a free preview to New York area cable systems run by Time Warner and Cablevision from December 24 through December 30, 2006. The package included the Texas Bowl and Insight Bowl, but not that week's NFL game between the New York Giants and Washington Redskins, which was shown on WNBC. (NFL policy dictates that games that originate nationally on a cable/satellite network be simulcast on a broadcast station in the participating teams' market.)

However, the cable companies were only interested in showing the Texas Bowl, which features the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, who developed strong local appeal in 2006 and barely missed a berth in the Bowl Championship Series. The NFL denied that request and would only offer this free preview if Cablevision and/or Time Warner make the entire preview week available to customers. [8] Time Warner then offered to carry the free preview on a digital tier, but after the NFL initially rejected the offer, they changed their mind. Cablevision, however, continued to refuse to carry any NFL Network programming other than the Texas Bowl. They even announced that they would put it on channel 14 (a TV listings channel used for overflow sports from MSG Network and FSN New York) at 6:00 p.m. until the end of the network's postgame coverage. The NFL, however, stated that it would not accept that request. [9]

On December 21, however, after New Jersey legislators threatened legal action, Cablevision changed its mind and indeed showed not only the game between Rutgers and Kansas State, but also the entire free preview schedule. Time Warner had made a similar announcement only hours earlier.[10]