NFL Reaches TV Deal With Mexican Networks

NFL, DirecTV Extend Pact in $4 Billion Deal

by MoonJoe

Wal Street Journal-3/24/09
By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN

In a sign that media rights for major sports may defy the recession, the National Football League reached a four-year extension with DirecTV Group Inc. Monday valued at $4 billion.
[directv and nfl deal] Associated Press

The NFL's new contract with DirectTV calls for payments of $1 billion a year for the 2011-14 seasons. That is a 43% increase on an annual basis over the current five-year deal.

According to a person with knowledge of the deal, the contract calls for payments of $1 billion a year for the 2011-14 seasons. That is a 43% increase on an annual basis over the current five-year deal, in which DirecTV pays the NFL about $700 million a year for the exclusive right to sell the Sunday Ticket package. That package allows fans to see every NFL game on Sundays, as opposed to simply the games shown on local broadcast channels.

Major cable operators have been trying to reach a deal with the NFL to sell the Sunday Ticket and share revenue with the league, but the NFL has preferred to take a lump-sum payment from DirecTV, which has used the product to lure viewers away from cable subscriptions to satellite.

However, the new deal chips away at DirecTV's exclusivity when it comes to out-of-market games. The agreement with the El Segundo, Calif., company allows the NFL for the first time to pursue deals with cable operators and Internet providers to offer subscribers the Red Zone Channel, which provides cut-ins to the crucial moments of NFL games. In addition, cable subscribers living in areas where satellite service isn't available will be able to buy the full Sunday Ticket package over the Internet.

To be sure, the NFL still needs to reach agreements with cable and broadband providers on the price and access to the Red Zone Channel. Negotiations with those companies to carry the NFL Network, the league-owned cable channel, have dragged on for several years. The league also has been battling Comcast Corp. in court and at the Federal Communications Commission over the cable provider's decision not to include the NFL Network in its basic digital tier of channels.

However, the deal with DirecTV bodes well for the league as it approaches talks with its broadcast partners for new agreements. Its current deals with General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal, CBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN expire after 2011. Under those deals, ESPN pays the NFL $1.1 billion a season, NBC Universal pays $600 million and CBS pays $620 million.
- Channel: NFL TALK
-03-24-2009, 07:53 AM
Five games featured on opening weekend, three games on Thanksgiving

by Rambos

Broncos-Chiefs to open NFL Network broadcasts
(March 27, 2006) -- The NFL announced its 2006 Kickoff Weekend nationally televised schedule -- including a Monday night doubleheader -- and its Thanksgiving Day national TV tripleheader.

In a tradition instituted in 2004, the Super Bowl champion annually hosts the NFL Thursday night season kickoff the following year. This Sept. 7 at 8:30 p.m. ET, the Super Bowl XL champion Pittsburgh Steelers will oppose the Miami Dolphins as NBC rejoins the NFL's TV family for the first time since 1997. The game will feature a quarterback matchup of Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger and the Dolphins' Daunte Culpepper, acquired recently from Minnesota in a trade.

Fans won't have to wait long to see the anticipated 'Manning Bowl'.
On Sunday, Sept. 10, the FOX national doubleheader game at 4:15 p.m. ET will feature the Dallas Cowboys at the Jacksonville Jaguars, who finished 12-4 and earned a playoff spot last season

The Sunday night primetime game (8:15 p.m. ET) on NBC can be called the "Manning Bowl" and it will be a history-maker. The AFC South champion Indianapolis Colts will visit the NFC East titlist New York Giants. It will be a matchup of quarterback brothers -- the Colts' 30-year-old Peyton Manning against his sibling, 25-year-old Eli Manning of the Giants. It will be the first time in NFL history that brothers will start at quarterback against each other.

Monday night, Sept. 11, will feature the first regularly scheduled Monday Night Football game on ESPN, and the first regularly scheduled Monday Night Football doubleheader. The first game (7 p.m. ET) will pit the Minnesota Vikings, under new head coach Brad Childress, at the Washington Redskins, an '05 Divisional Playoff team. The Monday night "nightcap" (10:15 p.m. ET) will be an AFC West meeting of the San Diego Chargers, directed by new starting quarterback Philip Rivers, at the Oakland Raiders, also led by a new coach, Pro Football Hall of Famer Art Shell.

On Sunday, Sept. 10, CBS, which has U.S. Open tennis in the late afternoon slot, will carry a lineup of early regional NFL games. CBS will televise the NFL national doubleheader late game in Week 2.

The NFL will kick off its new late-season primetime television package on NFL Network on Thanksgiving night, giving NFL fans three games on Thanksgiving Day for the first time.

The early game that day (CBS, 12:30 p.m. ET) will feature the Dolphins at the Detroit Lions, under new head coach Rod Marinelli. The second game (FOX, 4:15 p.m. ET) will send the NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Dallas to face the Cowboys.

The Thanksgiving package concludes at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network when the top two teams in the AFC West last year meet. The Denver Broncos (13-3) will visit the Kansas City Chiefs (10-6).

The announcement...
- Channel: NFL TALK
-03-27-2006, 12:05 PM
rams on tv saturday?

by general counsel

it doesnt look to me like the rams are on nfl network either saturday night or sunday for a replay. Am i misreading the tv schedule?

ramming speed to all

general counsel
- Channel: RAMS NATION TALK
-08-15-2006, 02:31 AM
Nationally televised games

by Battering_RAMS

I don't know how the NFL comes up with Sunday and Monday night game schedules but the Rams don't have one this year. That's two in a row now! I live in Florida and never get to see them on t.v. and think it's really not fair to the fans of teams with losing records. I always thought every team had at least one a year. Anyone else have an opinion on this matter?
- Channel: RAMS NATION TALK
-06-05-2009, 10:10 AM
55 Televised NFL Pre Season Games in 25 Nights This August

by Guest

No there is nothing wrong with your eyes.
I just heard that the NFL Network will Televise 55 NFL Pre Season Games in 25 Nights begining August 12th.
Maybe our pre season woes are finally over.
- Channel: RAMS NATION TALK
-06-18-2005, 07:40 PM

Announcement

NFL Reaches TV Deal With Mexican Networks

NFL Reaches TV Deal With Mexican Networks

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