Business

Talks break off between NFL and cable operator Time Warner

Negotiations to bring the NFL Network and RedZone channels to Time Warner have broken off and an agreement is unlikely to be reached this year, according to a new report.

According to the Sports Business Daily, a contentious meeting involving senior executives from the NFL and the cable company took place last Friday at Time Warner’s offices. Though the sides had reportedly made progress recently toward a deal, SBJ reported that they could not come to terms on a price for Time Warner to pay the NFL for the channels.

The NFL Network launched in 2003, and this season will broadcast eight live NFL games. The RedZone channel had been exclusively part of the DirecTV “Sunday Ticket” package, but the NFL now sells access to the channel to some cable operators.

RedZone airs on Sundays, offering fans a live look at various NFL games throughout the day, showing each scoring play.

The NFL Network is available in about 60 million homes, but has still not reached carriage agreements with Time Warner or Cablevision, which count millions of subscribers in the New York area.