Cable Companies Leery of Red Zone Channel

The news that the NFL’s new contract with DirecTV would permit the popular Red Zone Channel to be exported to cable companies was met with optimism in some circles (i.e., here). The cable companies don’t apparently share that view. According to John Ourand of SportsBusiness Journal, the cable companies regard the Red Zone Channel merely as a marketing tool for DirecTV’s Sunday Ticket package. The thinking is that, once cable customers get a glimpse of the Sunday Ticket package via the Andrew Siciliano-hosted look-ins at each of a given day’s game, they’ll decide to get themselves a satellite dish, rip the cable box out of the wall, and enjoy the ability to watch all or any portion of every game. It’s not surprising, and we probably should have been smart enough to see it coming. The rift between the NFL and the cable companies is sufficiently wide and deep to prompt each side to put a self-serving spin on any development. In this specific case, part of the problem is the lack of information regarding the plans for the Red Zone Channel. Per SBJ, the league plans to put out more information soon. And then the cable companies will find a way to characterize the new information as something that supports an ongoing dim view of the the league, NFL Network, and the coming availability of the Red Zone Channel.