As of April 1, ESPN assumed control of NFL Network. As of May 1, NFL Network disappeared from a major cable provider.
Via Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports, NFL Network has gone dark on Comcast’s Xfinity service amid a carriage dispute.
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And it’s not an NFL Network issue. It’s an ESPN/Disney issue.
Said Disney, in a statement issued to Glasspiegel: “We understand how disappointing and disruptive this is for football fans who have lost access to NFL Network and RedZone Channel as part of their Xfinity TV lineup. We proposed keeping these channels available while we continued good-faith negotiations, but unfortunately Comcast declined and took them down. Despite this, we remain fully committed to reaching a fair agreement and restoring access to our best-in-class NFL programming as quickly as possible.”
Comcast said this, in a statement to Glasspiegel: “Our contract to carry NFL Network and NFL RedZone has expired, and we’re in discussions with the new owner, Disney/ESPN, about our future carriage of the networks.”
Now that the draft has come and gone, there’s no urgency to address the situation. The only significant event left in the offseason is the schedule release, and ESPN will have that covered. (Not that it’s critical to viewers; the schedule is released in full online at the start of the ESPN and NFL Network schedule-release shows.)
Still, it’s the first tangible example of ESPN being responsible for NFL Network. It will be for ESPN, not NFL Network, to do the deal. Whenever the deal is done.
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