NFL Network and Insight Reach Deal
By Ben Grossman -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/29/2006 8:00:00 AM
The NFL Network has grabbed its first new deal since it began carrying live football last Thursday, striking a deal with Insight Communications for carriage of the league’s Thursday-Saturday live game package.
Insight was already an affiliate of the NFL Network, but had refused to pay a surcharge that would allow the carrier to air the live games.
Insight, the 8th-largest cable operator in the U.S., serves about 1.3 million customers in Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.
The league-owned network is still in stalemates with several other major carriers including Time Warner, Cablevision and Charter. Because of the inability to reach those carriage deals, the network began carrying live football on Thanksgiving with penetration of just over 40 million homes.
This is the first year the network has carried live football, as the league looks to expand penetration for its network after passing on $400 million in annual rights fees from outside bidders such as Comcast.
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