Cablevision and the National Football League announced on Thursday a multi-year deal that puts the NFL Network and the NFL RedZone channel on the cable operator's television lineup for the first time.
Up until now, competitors DirecTV and Verizon FiOS had carried the stations, which broadcast all sorts of football-related programming, including regular season Thursday night games.
NFL Network will be available in both standard-definition and HD for customers who subscribe to iO Preferred, iO Silver, iO Gold or the iO Sports & Entertainment Pak. NFL RedZone, which airs on Sundays throughout the regular season, will be offered in both standard-definition and HD as part of the iO Sports & Entertainment Pak, which is now included in the new iO Gold package.
"We know there is significant interest in the NFL Network and NFL RedZone among our Optimum TV customers, and are pleased to have worked productively with the NFL to offer both channels in time for the upcoming season, and for years to come," Mac Budill, Cablevision's executive vice president of programming, said in a statement.
Both Verizon and DirecTV have used the NFL Network as a way to woo sports fans to their services. DirecTV still has one advantage over both Verizon and Cablevision - the satellite provider is the only one of the three offering NFL Sunday Ticket, which allows fans to watch every regular season game.
