The NFL Network has signed a digital user authentication agreement with Cablevision, allowing subscribers to view the channel and NFL RedZone via the carrier's Optimum TV to Go service. The deal allows Cablevision customers who get the channels on linear TV to view the content, including Thursday night live games on NFL Network, on any computer or tablet. The pact is a first for the NFL distributing its channels digitally through user authentication. NFL Senior VP/Media Strategy & Development Hans Schroeder said, "NFL Media continues to look for innovative ways to distribute our great content on as many platforms as possible and this authentication agreement with Cablevision falls squarely within that goal" (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
A DAY IN THE LIFE: GRANTLAND's Rembert Browne offered a behind-the-scenes look at NFL Net's RedZone operations on an NFL Sunday. Host Scott Hanson is "often producing as much as anyone in the control room, shooting questions to the crew, pushing observations that determine how the show plays out, and repeatedly proving that his football IQ moves faster than the studio's Internet." Co-Producer Kent Camera said of RedZone airing game content from Fox and CBS, "That's the weird job for us; we're taking their broadcast, obviously, and so they're the ones that are 90 percent of what is on our air, ours is just trying to complement it and give it the context and relevance that the broadcast might need” (GRANTLAND.com, 11/14).
