NFL, Comcast Settle Dispute Over Network

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., May 19 -- The NFL completed a series of television deals Tuesday, settling its long-running dispute with Comcast and extending its contracts with Fox and CBS each by two years.

The agreements were announced as the league's franchise owners began a two-day meeting here by hearing an address from DeMaurice Smith, the new executive director of the NFL Players Association. That exchange served as a precursor for the labor negotiations between the sides scheduled to begin early next month.

Meantime, the owners continued to do business with their TV partners. The NFL's settlement with Comcast includes a long-term agreement for the cable company to carry the league-owned television channel. The sides had been at odds over pricing and distribution of the NFL Network.

"We're on broad distribution, which is what our objective was," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said at the owners' meeting. "We're pleased about that."

According to an announcement by the NFL and Comcast, the NFL Network will be carried on a package making it available to approximately two-thirds of Comcast's digital customers.

The NFL had wanted its channel carried on Comcast's digital basic package. Comcast had maintained throughout the dispute the channel belonged on a sports tier, so only those customers who wanted it had to pay for it.

"We are delighted to have come to an agreement with the NFL," Brian L. Roberts, the chairman and chief executive of Comcast Corp., said in a written statement. "Our goal has always been to provide our digital customers with access to the NFL's unique content and, working together, we have struck the right balance between value and distribution on a variety of viewing platforms."

Comcast also will carry the Red Zone Channel, with live action from Sunday games, according to the announcement.

The extensions with Fox and CBS run through the 2013 season, and both deals address the possibility, Goodell said, the NFL will increase the number of regular season games from 16 to 17 or 18 per team.

Sources said the Fox deal is worth approximately $740 million per season, and the CBS extension is worth approximately $645 million a year. Those figures represent roughly 4 percent increases over the $712.5 million per season Fox was paying under its current contract for Sunday afternoon NFC games and the $622.5 million a year being paid by CBS for Sunday afternoon AFC games.

The owners will not vote during this meeting on the proposal to lengthen the regular season, Goodell said. The owners plan to discuss the measure here and address the possibility of a longer regular season with the players' union during the labor negotiations, said Goodell, who left open the possibility owners will take a formal vote on an extended regular season in the future.

He declined to be more specific about when such a vote might occur. The measure appears to have strong support among the owners, who would reduce the preseason by a corresponding number of games.