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EspañolNFL NETWORK
'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 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 has covered the last two NFL drafts (2006 and 2007); its coverage has competed with ESPN and ESPN2.
The NFL Network broadcasts out of studios in Culver City, California, near Los Angeles.
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)
Live NFL games
Main articles: Run to the Playoffs
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. Collinsworth won the Sports Emmy for best game analyst for his work on the NFL Network telecasts.
These games are also broadcast on Westwood One Radio in the United States and by TSN in Canada.
In August 2007, the network televised the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New Orleans Saints.
The 2007 schedule is scheduled to begin on Thanksgiving night, November 22, with a game between the Indianapolis Colts and the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta's Georgia Dome. Gumbel and Collinsworth will return as the booth announcers.
See the Run to the Playoffs page for the complete 2007 season schedule.
Other Football
NFL preseason
NFL Network televises 54 NFL preseason games each August. Some are aired live, but 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. In 2007, eight live broadcasts were scheduled; two of them were produced by NFLN using the "Run to the Playoffs" production crew and the other six used the format just mentioned.
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.
On April 14, 2007, the network showed the Nebraska Cornhuskers' spring football game.
At this time, the channel does not show live regular-season college football games, but does plan to show the Insight, Texas, and Senior bowls again in late 2007 and early 2008.
High school football
NFLN aired two broadcasts of high school all-star games in June 2007: the Bayou Bowl between players from Texas and Louisiana on June 9, and the Big 33 Football Classic between players from Pennsylvania and Ohio on June 16.
Programming
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.
Outlets
Current
★ Comcast
★ Cox Communications
★ DirecTV
★ Dish Network
★ Chippewa Valley Cable
★ Verizon FiOS
★ AT&T U-Verse
★ 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
★ Qwest Choice TV
★ Dakota Central Telecommunications
★ Wave Broadband
★ Rogers Cable TV - Ontario
International distribution
NFL Network is also available on most major service providers in Canada, including Bell ExpressVu, StarChoice, Rogers Cable, and Shaw Communications. 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.
NFL Network HD
It is available on:
★ Verizon's FiOS (814)
★ Dish Network (9426)
★ National Programming Service
★ WOW!
★ Comcast started adding a dedicated NFL HD channel in August of 2007. Other markets use either MOJO or an HD Special Events (HD-SE) channel to air NFL Network HD programming. This includes the 8 Thursday/Saturday games and the 90 minute ''NFL Replay'' showings.
Directv uses an HD-SE also for select NFL Network programming until they carry the channel full-time in September.
Controversy
Battle with TWC, other cable systems for carriage
NFL Network is as of September 2007 embroiled in a dispute with several cable companies. Perhaps the most public beef is over its removal on some systems owned by Time Warner Cable, the second-largest system in the United States, which occurred in September 2006.
NFL Network has insisted that it be placed on basic service and wish to charge the cable companies a monthly rate of $0.61 per subscriber during the NFL season, while Time Warner wishes to place it on a sports tier.[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, Charter Communications, Brighthouse Networks, Mediacom Communications and Suddenlink Communications. Comcast had the network on its digital tier at no extra charge last year, but moved it to their ''Sports Entertainment Package'' on August 6, 2007.
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 featured 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. 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]. The free preview did not lead to a long-term carriage deal, and the standoff continued between the two sides.
Notes and references
1. Bryant Gumbel, Cris Collinsworth to announce NFL Network games NFL Network.
2. Insight Bowl coming to NFL Network NFL Network.
3. Relive The Insight Bowl With Free Online Video Texas Tech Football.
4. NFL Network to air Texas Bowl NFL Network.
5. NFL Network to air Senior Bowl on Jan. 27 NFL Network.
6. [1]
7. Frequently Asked Questions NFL Network.
8. The State
9. Cablevision, NFL in new Rutgers war of words''The Hollywood Reporter''
10. Cablevision to broadcast Texas Bowl ESPN.
See also
★ List of personalities on NFL Network
★ List of DirecTV channels
★ List of Dish Network channels
★ Run to the Playoffs
External links
★ Official site
★ Details of all current shows
★ Countdown to the NFL Network’s Real Kickoff November 20, 2006 (from Howard Bloom's Sports Business News.com)
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