jmkcool2002 7 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Peter King is reporting that the NFL will sell half of the NFL Network's Thursday night games to another outlet http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/10/21/thursday-night-doubleheader-definitely-not-happening/ Who do you think wins? Is it Fox, NBC, Turner or a wild card? And what does this do for the NFL Network's carriage fees? I'm surprised that the NFL is humbling themselves to make this move even though NFLN's ratings are growing higher and their carriage fees are up. Wouldn't this move hurt the network? I personally believe that Turner will win, I wrote about it my blog if you want to check it out. http://jmanmediazone.blogspot.com/2013/10/who-gets-nfls-thursday-night-games-in.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spring Rubber 611 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 It would much up the whole primetime schedule on Fox and FS1 now that FS1 has MLB Playoff coverage starting next year, so I don't think it's going to be them. NBC Sports Network might be a good landing spot as it could help to grow the network into a bigger player in the cable sports arena. It does sound like a lucrative deal for Turner. They could have Thursday night Football for September and October leading right into their Thursday NBA coverage the week after the NFL coverage ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike91 66 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 NBC needs this. This would strengthen their rather weak lineup of programming comparative to ESPN and even FS1. They have the Thanksgiving night game, so that would fit in with that. Turner could be a nice possibility, but remember that like FS1, they also have MLB playoff coverage. Sure, they could put one on TBS and one on TNT, but I don't think they would want to compete against each other. ESPN usually has college games Thursday night, so I don't think that will change. I doubt CBS will even bother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TVNewsLover 727 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 I'd like to see Turner get them. Kind of surprised they haven't started their own sports network like everyone else. I wonder if "Inside the NFL" would move over from Showtime to TNT (or TBS) as a post-game show to the package (similar to "Inside the NBA" and "Inside MLB"). On another note, I wonder if ABC is even considering this at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
News 9 Viewer 100 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 The NBC Sports Network needs this package and Turner would love to have it to lead into their Thursday night NBA games. Plus having Marv Albert or Kevin Harlan calling NFL games on primetime TV would be awesome. But realistically, ESPN (because they're ESPN) and Fox Sports 1 (because Rupert Murdoch loves the NFL (it and The Simpsons made Fox a major network) and has deep ass pockets) are the front runners for this package, in that order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCAUTVNBC10 408 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 NBCSN or FOX Sports1 would be my guess. I know NBC would love to have NFL games on NBCSN and will probably give the NFL and offer they can't refuse for the package Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCAUTVNBC10 408 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 The NBC Sports Network needs this package and Turner would love to have it to lead into their Thursday Night NBA games. Plus having Marv Albert or Kevin Harlan calling NFL games in primetime would be awesome. But realistically, ESPN (because they're ESPN) and Fox Sports 1 (because Rupert Murdoch loves the NFL (it and The Simpsons made Fox a major network) and has deep ass pockets) are the front runners for this package, in that order. ESPN really can't afford to buy another high priced rights package. If you've noticed they've laid off tons of staff this year and have let go of some right packages. I'm not saying they're heading for the poor house any time soon but I think their days of just outbidding everyone for any rights that become available are over for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WCAUTVNBC10 408 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 On another note, I wonder if ABC is even considering this at all? ABC Sports hasn't existed for 7 years now. It's all ESPN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenShine9 1509 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 NBC is VERY weak in primetime on Thursdays though (i.e. getting CW-level ratings) so they could certainly use it for their network coverage as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty Muck 4167 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 The NBC Sports Network needs this package and Turner would love to have it to lead into their Thursday Night NBA games. Plus having Marv Albert or Kevin Harlan calling NFL games in primetime would be awesome. But realistically, ESPN (because they're ESPN) and Fox Sports 1 (because Rupert Murdoch loves the NFL (it and The Simpsons made Fox a major network) and has deep ass pockets) are the front runners for this package, in that order. Kevin Harlan is WestwoodOne's lead announcer for the Monday Night Football radio package, so he kinda already is calling games in prime time. ESPN really can't afford to buy another high priced rights package. If you've noticed they've laid off tons of staff this year and have let go of some right packages. I'm not saying they're heading for the poor house any time soon but I think their days of just outbidding everyone for any rights that become available are over for now. Eventually, the cable sports bubble will pop. Not any time soon, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrtraveler01 737 Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 ESPN really can't afford to buy another high priced rights package. If you've noticed they've laid off tons of staff this year and have let go of some right packages. I'm not saying they're heading for the poor house any time soon but I think their days of just outbidding everyone for any rights that become available are over for now. Yep, they've gone all in trying to secure rights to every college football game imaginable that it's resulted in them not being able to get the rights for anything else. NBC needs this. This would strengthen their rather weak lineup of programming comparative to ESPN and even FS1. They have the Thanksgiving night game, so that would fit in with that. Turner could be a nice possibility, but remember that like FS1, they also have MLB playoff coverage. Sure, they could put one on TBS and one on TNT, but I don't think they would want to compete against each other. ESPN usually has college games Thursday night, so I don't think that will change. I doubt CBS will even bother. Looks like that Fox has an option to sell some of their LCS games to the MLB Network if they want. This option could prove to be very useful if FS1 does get the rights. In all likelihood, it's between them and NBC. Both need something to make their sport networks more valuable and what would make it more vauluable than getting the rights to some Thursday night NFL games. And it looks like it's only part of the Thursday Night package, at the most there would be 2 or 3 conflict games and the NFL Network can easily air those, so I don't think the MLB playoffs will keep Turner or Fox from bidding. ABC Sports hasn't existed for 7 years now. It's all ESPN And ESPN has demonstrated to us that unless they're basically forced to, they want to air as few sporting events on ABC as possible. Either way, this is all just rumors at this point. Nothing has been confirmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmkcool2002 7 Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 NBC is VERY weak in primetime on Thursdays though (i.e. getting CW-level ratings) so they could certainly use it for their network coverage as well. There is no way in hell, if NBC bids for this and wins, that they would put it on broadcast. It would piss of production companies and other entities way too much for them to do that especially given that they already have a cable sports network. In general though, I think a broadcast network supported by local news and sports could work ratings-wise. But I doubt NBC would be the ones to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmkcool2002 7 Posted October 23, 2013 Author Share Posted October 23, 2013 ABC Sports hasn't existed for 7 years now. It's all ESPN Yeah and unless Disney spins off ABC to become it's own entity, I doubt that'll ever happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.