NFL, AT&T's U-verse Strike Deal To Carry RedZone

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

The NFL said Friday that it has struck a deal with AT&T's U-verse multichannel video service to carry its RedZone channel.

The channel provides viewers with live look-ins on scoring chances in all the NFL's Sunday afternoon games (the "red zone" is the last 20 yards before the goal line). It is in part an effort to give competitors to DirecTV their own, abbreviated version of the exclusive Sunday Ticket pacakage of Sunday afternoon games.

Comcast, Dish and Verizon are all signed up for RedZone. The NFL said it has also signed up other distributors.

And as if on cue, not long after the NFL news, overbuilder RCN said it too had signed on to carry the channel, as well as renewing its carriage deal with NFL Network.

The channel launches Sept. 13 at 1 p.m., the first Sunday of the season.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.