The NFL is talking to networks about buying a stake in its cable channel as part of the bidding for the rights to broadcast “Thursday Night Football” games, Claire Atkinson of the New York Post has learned.
CBS has a one-year prime-time package — which costs $300 million — to broadcast eight Thursday night games during the first half of the season. Those games are also simulcast on the NFL Network.
The league is shopping an extended 16-game package, along with a stake in the NFL Network, in a potential move that could protect its cable network and score a big payday, sources said.
The NFL is concerned about the NFL Network’s future in an era in which even Disney’s cable powerhouse ESPN is seeing subscriber declines.
If the NFL Network were part of a bigger programming entity, it could protect the fees cable operators and other distributors pay for the right to carry the channel.
The NFL Network collects $1.31 per subscriber per month from pay-TV distributors, according to SNL Kagan estimates.
The NFL declined to comment.
If the NFL decides to sell broadcast rights to the network’s 16 games, its distribution partners will likely seek to ratchet down affiliate fees during the next set of carriage negotiations, sources said.
The NFL Network’s contracts with cable, satellite and telecom operators stipulate the league must keep eight games exclusively on the network.
The NFL aired all of the Thursday night games until 2013, when it struck a deal with CBS to simulcast eight of them — even though distributors pay the NFL Network at the same rate.
“Cable operators weren’t savvy enough to catch the change,” said a source familiar with the talks. “The network was able to retain the affiliate revenue on the NFL and switch the value.”
Several sources say the league is aware of the potential issue and is trying to figure ways to retain its leverage.
With Verizon and cable operators looking to create skinny bundle offerings, the NFL senses a potential vulnerability.
Several networks, including CBS, Fox, NBC and Turner’s TNT, are interested in the extended package that analysts predict will fetch more than $600 million a year, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Sources said the NFL also held discussions about selling the network to ESPN, but that deal fell apart because the league had tried to retain control over what games would actually appear there.
This time around, ESPN appears to be absent from negotiations. ESPN declined comment.
CBS has a one-year prime-time package — which costs $300 million — to broadcast eight Thursday night games during the first half of the season. Those games are also simulcast on the NFL Network.
The league is shopping an extended 16-game package, along with a stake in the NFL Network, in a potential move that could protect its cable network and score a big payday, sources said.
The NFL is concerned about the NFL Network’s future in an era in which even Disney’s cable powerhouse ESPN is seeing subscriber declines.
If the NFL Network were part of a bigger programming entity, it could protect the fees cable operators and other distributors pay for the right to carry the channel.
The NFL Network collects $1.31 per subscriber per month from pay-TV distributors, according to SNL Kagan estimates.
The NFL declined to comment.
If the NFL decides to sell broadcast rights to the network’s 16 games, its distribution partners will likely seek to ratchet down affiliate fees during the next set of carriage negotiations, sources said.
The NFL Network’s contracts with cable, satellite and telecom operators stipulate the league must keep eight games exclusively on the network.
The NFL aired all of the Thursday night games until 2013, when it struck a deal with CBS to simulcast eight of them — even though distributors pay the NFL Network at the same rate.
“Cable operators weren’t savvy enough to catch the change,” said a source familiar with the talks. “The network was able to retain the affiliate revenue on the NFL and switch the value.”
Several sources say the league is aware of the potential issue and is trying to figure ways to retain its leverage.
With Verizon and cable operators looking to create skinny bundle offerings, the NFL senses a potential vulnerability.
Several networks, including CBS, Fox, NBC and Turner’s TNT, are interested in the extended package that analysts predict will fetch more than $600 million a year, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Sources said the NFL also held discussions about selling the network to ESPN, but that deal fell apart because the league had tried to retain control over what games would actually appear there.
This time around, ESPN appears to be absent from negotiations. ESPN declined comment.
