https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/I'd/45910378/espn-get-nfl-network-rights-redzone-nfl-equity-stake

As if ESPN doesn't already cram the NFL at you 24/7/365 look for it to ramp up to even more ridiculousness.  

Maybe Stephen A get one whole channel to do nothing but play solitaire and rag on the Cowboys.  Or maybe you can pay $30/month to watch Schefter talk to sources on the phone.

I understand ESPN doing this but as a fan, ugh. 

52 minutes ago, theguru said:

I understand ESPN doing this but as a fan, ugh. 

Yea.  Luckily for the last decade, my NFL exposure has mostly been Bengals games.  Outside of that I don't really consume much, so ESPN is not in my regular TV watching.  Live CFB and CBB games and some baseball and WNBA action.

13 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Yea.  Luckily for the last decade, my NFL exposure has mostly been Bengals games.  Outside of that I don't really consume much, so ESPN is not in my regular TV watching.  Live CFB and CBB games and some baseball and WNBA action.

Let's not forget ESPN's coverage of F1!  It is amazing and then some, I love it.

When the Bengals are not playing I enjoy Redzone and I like Redzone on a second TV while the Bengals are playing.  

The biggest part of this deal is that the NFL will own a 10% stake in ESPN. 

The NFL will still own and produce RedZone. 

21 minutes ago, bugatti said:

The NFL will still own and produce RedZone. 

Right!  When I read that I was relieved. 

Also, Scott Hanson is still the presenter but it sounds like the commercial free thing is up in the air.  I am not worried though, ESPN does a lot of commercial free coverage of F1 courtesy of Mercedes Benz.   Here is the Google AI overview:

Yes, Mercedes-Benz is the presenting sponsor for Formula 1 races on ESPN. This partnership includes a commercial-free presentation of the races, a five-second presentation animation at the beginning and end of each race with the sponsor logo and voiceover, and mentions during post-race coverage. Additionally, ESPN has also brought in other sponsors like Heineken and Chase Sapphire to enhance their F1 coverage.

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I would assume sponsors would jump at the chance to sponsor Redzone and keep in commercial free.  I mean, I am probably buying if I am a position to do so. 

Just announced this morning that ESPN has acquired the NFL Network including NFL Red Zone. According to the agreement ESPN will pickup 3 more games raising their total to now 28 NFL games. An interesting part of the agreement is that the NFL acquires a 10% stake in the company. 

9 hours ago, bugatti said:

The NFL will still own and produce RedZone. 

This is all that really matters to the average consumer, and hopefully they don't mess it up. 

13 hours ago, theguru said:

I understand ESPN doing this but as a fan, ugh. 

Looks like ESPN is also taking on some WWE programming as well.

18 minutes ago, No Hiding Here....BC 21 said:

Looks like ESPN is also taking on some WWE programming as well.

It looks like ESPN is going to make "buying" ESPN's programming a must. 

32 minutes ago, No Hiding Here....BC 21 said:

Looks like ESPN is also taking on some WWE programming as well.

All of their Premium Live Events (which used to be called Pay Per Views).  So we're talking Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, Summer Slam, Survivor Series, etc.  A total of 10 events altogether, although Wrestlemania & Summer Slam are two 2-night events.

20 minutes ago, Randy Parker said:

All of their Premium Live Events (which used to be called Pay Per Views).  So we're talking Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble, Summer Slam, Survivor Series, etc.  A total of 10 events altogether, although Wrestlemania & Summer Slam are two 2-night events.

Right.
I got Peacock to watch them.  I started having them run on my laptop at work on Mondays as background noise.  Oddly enough the shows got better when I wasn't wasting a Saturday/Sunday night watching them.  LOL

1 hour ago, No Hiding Here....BC 21 said:

Right.
I got Peacock to watch them.  I started having them run on my laptop at work on Mondays as background noise.  Oddly enough the shows got better when I wasn't wasting a Saturday/Sunday night watching them.  LOL

We got Peacock for the same reason.  We also have Hulu Live.  If the new ESPN DTC isn't offered with our current Hulu package, I'm not paying $30 a month for it.  I know a lot of people use VPNs to watch them on Netflix now, since Netflix has the PLE rights outside of America.

1 hour ago, Randy Parker said:

We got Peacock for the same reason.  We also have Hulu Live.  If the new ESPN DTC isn't offered with our current Hulu package, I'm not paying $30 a month for it.  I know a lot of people use VPNs to watch them on Netflix now, since Netflix has the PLE rights outside of America.

I won't be purchasing anything new to watch.  Especially not something 3x what I'm paying now.