Sports Leagues Morphing Into Media Companies With TV Offerings

NFL Network tonight kicks off its eight-game regular-season "Thursday Night Football" schedule with Bears-49ers, and the "big water-cooler topic is ... how can league-owned outlets such as the NFL Network strike a balance between complementing and cannibalizing their media partners," according to Jon Weinbach of the L.A. TIMES. Leagues in recent years "have morphed into full-blown media companies, launching their own TV channels, advertising networks and digital entertainment ventures." The NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB now all "operate 24-hour cable channels," and Pilson Communications President Neal Pilson said the channels "give the leagues a chance to get their message out as they want to frame it, unadulterated." Weinbach notes ratings for "all of the league-owned channels ... are still minuscule," as the networks "largely broadcast an endless mix of old games and studio highlight shows." However, they are "are increasingly angling to broadcast more of their leagues' most valuable content: live games." The NFL in '06 elected to put its new eight-game Thursday-Saturday game package on NFL Net after "negotiations stalled" with Comcast-owned Versus. NFL Net is now available in about 53 million homes after ending a carriage dispute with Comcast in May, but it is a "far smaller footprint than basic-cable outlets" like ESPN and TBS. NFL Net President & CEO Steve Bornstein, noting the net is still without a deal with Time Warner Cable, said, "We have distribution with four of the top five TV companies in the business, and they're happy with us." But Weinbach reports what "remains to be seen is just how far any of the leagues will go to increase the distribution -- and therefore, the value -- of their networks." The "surest way for the NFL to generate subscriber demand, of course, would be to give its network more games in the next round of TV contracts." Bornstein: "We don't rule anything out" (L.A. TIMES, 11/12).

CHANGING COURSE: CABLEFAX DAILY reports St. Louis-based Suddenlink Cable will not carry tonight's Bears-49ers game despite saying it had "verbally accepted" an NFL Net carriage offer in late September. The MSO said that it had started "exchanging contract drafts and was ready to move forward with adding the channel to its lineup." But Suddenlink on its blog wrote, "Then, the NFL Network withdrew the offer we had accepted. A few weeks later, the NFL returned with a new proposal that included unacceptable costs and conditions." NFL Network VP/Affiliate Distribution John Malkin: "We weren't able to reach an agreement with them that was a fair deal for both of us. But we're still open to negotiations with them for both NFL Network and RedZone" (CABLEFAX DAILY, 11/12). Meanwhile, Oregon-based BendBroadband has reached an agreement to carry NFL Network and NFL RedZone, beginning today. BendBroadband will offer NFL Network in its Preferred package and RedZone on its HD Plus tier (NFL).