Thursday night football kicked off this past week on the NFL network, starting an eight-game primetime series of games.  More customers are able to watch the NFL Network this year, up from 42 million last year to 53 million currently.  The majority of cable companies do carry the NFL Network, but Time Warner Cable is the only one out of the top five distributors that does not.  With the introduction of the NFL Red Zone channel, Time Warner customers are getting shortchanged.  Through week 9 of the campaign, NFL Network scored a 15% increase in ratings and a 39% advance in households, compared to the same span in the 2008 season.  And this is without reaching a fairly decent market share.

Along with Dish Network and DirecTV, other NFL RedZone carriers includ Comcast, FiOS, and U-verse.  There are other smaller companies that we could mention.  These companies are using RedZone to promote other sports packaging and see it as a way for cross-promotional advertising.  Time Warner cities a lack of positioning and over-pricing as reasons for not carryign the channel.  Following Time Warner are MSOs, Charter, Cablevision and Suddenlink who are also in talks of potentially not carrying the NFL Network.

The NFL Network and the NFL itself cannot be happy with the holdout of Time Warner Cable.  Such a huge cable company holding out gives rise to suggestion, which can crumble a company’s venture.  If the NFL’s long-term goal is to increase fan viewership, then it is imperative for them to cut a deal with Time Warner.  While economics plays a big role in this, the NFL might lose this battle but win the war in the long-run.