Praise Jaysus! Comcast Keeps NFL Network, Adds ESPNU And ESPN360.com

When we last checked in a few weeks ago with the talking between Comcast and the NFL Network, things were at a stalemate until Brian Roberts, the chairman of Comcast and NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell began getting involved. And sure enough, all that talking came finally to fruition.

With lawsuits against one another being dropped, Comcast and the NFL Network jointly announced in both Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Philadelphia this day (5/19) that the network and the number one cable service in the USA there has been an agreement to keep the channel on the service, and move it by August 1 from the Vince McMahon Memorial "Sports Entertainment" (read: extra $8/month) tier to the Digital Classic tier. But that wasn't the only news from the City of Siblingly Love today. It also opens the door to other cablers like Time Warner, those stubborn bastards at Cablevision (Rangers and Knicks suck, as does NewsDay) as well as Cox and Charter to talk about getgting the network on their systems.

The company has announced as of September 1, ESPNU and for all you high-speed interwebs freaks like me, ESPN360.com are being added. It's about time. Do you know how many Big Five and Temple football games were carried on ESPNU the last four years? A lot, and unless we had a satellite dish, we were screwed.

The Bus Pulling Out and The NFL Network on Comcast (Updated)

Pretty big news for football fans this final day of April.

First, since Com(munist)cast and the NFL Network have been miles apart on a new agreement to carry the network (NFL Net wants to be on a basic digital package, while Commiecast wants you to pay up to $7 as part of a what-seemed-to-have-been-named-by-Vince McMahon-named "Sports Entertainment" package sans fake fighting) as of 11:59 PM tonight, there might not be any more NFL Network on your local Comcast system, but users will get something. Depending on where you live, you'll get an option on two of the following: one free upgrade of your internet service, a year of the Starz premium movie channels, a free pay-per-view event (rock concert, WWE/TNA fake fighting, boxing or UFC event) or six on demand flicks. I predict lots of people will drop Commiecast in a hurry and sign up for DirecTV or Dish Network, mostly the former. Or if there's another video provider in the nieghborhood, that option will be used. Let's face it, when MLB Network was beiong formed, they agreed to allow cable into the project, and avoided those pitfall traps the NFL encountered.

UPDATE: Looks like they're going to stay on a little bit longer for now as the two are in extended talks to keep the channel on for now.

Meanwhile, it looks like NBC is taking "The Bus" out of the Football Night in America station. Jerome Bettis according to Newsday is being ousted from his role on the program, so it looks like it'll be Keith, Dan Patrick, Bob Costas and Tiki Barber instudio with Peter King along for the show as well when it all begins on September 13.