NFL to give up on NFL Network Late-Season Games (Games to go to ESPN?)

[SirFozzie]

Interesting.. looks like they're giving up on trying to pressure Comcast/TimeWarner etcetera to carry these late season games, and at least recoup some money out of the issue.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-...,3719298.story

Is the NFL ready to hand off a controversial package of eight late-season games to ESPN?

The league and network on Friday declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that the NFL is talking to Walt Disney Co.'s sports media juggernaut about a possible partnership -- one that might solve its increasingly bitter carriage battle with big cable operators, including Comcast and Time Warner.

The league sparked a bitter fan protest late last year by threatening to restrict the broadcast of the then-undefeated New England Patriots' Dec. 29 game against the New York Giants to its wholly owned NFL Network. The channel is available in only 40 million homes nationwide. ESPN, in contrast, is seen in 96 million homes.

As fan protests mounted and Congress threatened to get involved, the NFL unexpectedly reversed field and allowed NBC and CBS to also broadcast the game, which the Patriots won. Earlier in the season, the dispute had restricted viewership of a game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers to those whose cable television systems carried the NFL Network.

The NFL and ESPN on Friday declined to confirm or deny that talks are underway.

"We have a long term and extensive relationship with the NFL," said ESPN spokesman Chris LaPlaca. "To that end we are always in discussions with them about mutual projects."

NFL Senior Vice President Joe Browne said that "we speak to our TV partners all the time about all sorts of issues."