TV: NFL Network will be all football, all the time
Golf has one. So do tennis, college sports, the NBA and auto racing. Word is, ice skating may be looking into one.
By Times Staff Writer
Published September 5, 2003
[Times photo: Jim Damaske]
Michael Irvin, left, speaking with radio host Jim Rome, joins Sunday NFL Countdown in place of Sterling Sharpe.
Golf has one. So do tennis, college sports, the NBA and auto racing. Word is, ice skating may be looking into one.
But when the NFL launches NFL Network, a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day channel devoted to all things professional football, it is likely to dwarf all its predecessors.
On Nov. 4, Election Day, NFL Network President and CEO Steve Bornstein is hoping you'll cast your viewing vote for his new venture, which makes its debut.
Despite football news, views and highlights on CBS, Fox, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Classic, HBO, every regional sports network (there are approximately 150 team shows across the country) and every local sports broadcast, Bornstein is willing to bet there are enough fans out there to warrant one more station.
The NFL says it has 160-million fans nationwide.
"This network is for the underserved fan," said Bornstein, who knows a little something about 24-hour sports stations: He was president at ESPN for 10 years.
"We believe there is great demand and pent-up interest in more information. I know it is hard for many people to imagine that ESPN doesn't cover the sport's fans enthusiasm to the nth degree, but they said the same thing when we launched ESPN2, and they said the same thing when we launched ESPNews."
NFL Network spokesman Seth Palansky said that though cable covers the NFL extensively, it's "appointment viewing." On NFL Network, it will be all NFL, all the time.
The NFL is building a television network around 100-million feet of film from the vast archives of NFL Films and Rich Eisen. The primetime blocs, from 8-11 nightly, will be all original.
The signature show, at 8 p.m., will be called NFL Total Access with Eisen as host. The show will cover the day's league news and serve as the channel's SportsCenter. NFL Films Presents will air at 9 and Playbook at 10. Both will be produced by NFL Films, which will fill most of the remaining hours each day (along with repeats).
NFL Network, which has no high-paid analysts and will rely on players for that, says it is not designed to compete with ESPN, CBS and Fox, which pay billions for the right to televise games. It will not show any games (for now), and Sundays will feature a screen with updated stats so as not to interfere with game broadcasts. That is the plan, though Bornstein says the new channel will evolve from year to year and continue to add programming.
Only those with DirecTV will get the new channel, though negotiations are ongoing with digital cable operators such as Time Warner, which boast more than 70-million subscribers (as opposed to DirecTV's 11-million). For local cable subscribers, there is hope that NFL Network could find its way to your television screens before the launch date.
TWO-POINT CONVERSION?: Rush Limbaugh joins ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown as this year's "I've got to see how this guy does" hire.
Liberals already are seething at the prospects of Limbaugh, arguably the most divisive voice in radio, voicing his opinions on football. Limbaugh says he will leave politics out of it, but plenty will tune in to make sure he does.
They always can hope he shares the same fate as Dennis Miller, who bombed spectacularly on Monday Night Football, an experience apparently so traumatic he converted from a liberal Bill Clinton defender to George Bush's lapdog.
NEW FACES: Other new faces this year include Michael Irvin, who will fit in perfectly on Sunday NFL Countdown in place of Sterling Sharpe, and Frank Caliendo, who will replace Jimmy Kimmel on Fox.
For those who don't recognize the name, he's the fat guy on MAD TV and does a dead-on impersonation of John Madden.
George Lopez joins Wanda Sykes as the comedic force on HBO's Inside the NFL.
BACK AGAIN: Inside the NFL, back for a 27th consecutive season, moves to Wednesdays this fall.
The show, which bounced back last year to become one of the best football shows on television, also will replay Thursday (8 p.m., midnight), Friday (7 p.m.), Saturday (11 a.m.) and Sunday (8 a.m.).
[Last modified September 4, 2003, 10:06:43]
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