NFL and Comcast settle dispute over NFL network
The NFL owners officially began their spring meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale this morning and the league announced it has reached agreement with Comcast to ensure NFL Network is available to more viewers.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the agreement ends the outstanding legal disputes and means the 24-hour all-football network will continue be available to Comcast’s Digital Classic Cable customers, rather than moving to the higher-tier Sports Entertainment package. That means the network will be available in 10.8 million homes, up from 2 million.
“We are delighted to have come to an agreement with the NFL,” Comcast Corp. Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts said in a statement. “Our goal has always been to provide our digital customers with access to the NFL’s unique content and, working together, we have struck the right balance between value and distribution on a variety of viewing platforms. We are looking forward to bringing the NFL’s programming to our customers just in time for the start of the NFL season.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement the league looks forward to having coverage of training camps and preseason included on Comcast.
CRAIG DAVIS In more than 33 years at the Sun Sentinel, Craig Davis has written about a wide variety of sports topics from baseball to yachting, fishing to triathlons, and also worked as a copy editor and page designer. Recently he reported on local sports, including running, swimming, cycling, equestrian and beach volleyball. He enjoys sports as a participant as well as a spectator, is active in the South Florida running scene plays in the curling club at Saveology Iceplex. This blog offers a glimpse at the business side of sports in the interest of enhancing enjoyment of the games and sporting options as a spectator as well as a participant.
