DirecTV Picks Up Scott Hanson’s NFL RedZone in Multiyear Deal
On the heels of DirecTV reaching a deal to continue beaming the NFL Sunday Ticket package into the nation’s bars and restaurants, the satellite-TV provider announced it has expanded the terms of that agreement to include carriage of NFL RedZone.
While DirecTV subscribers had been tuning into the Andrew Siciliano-helmed version of the whip-around show since 2005, that version of the commercial-free Sunday NFL feed was shuttered after Google/YouTube snapped up the rights to Sunday Ticket last December in a seven-year, $14 billion deal. In place of the legacy RedZone offering, DirecTV customers will now have access to NFL Network’s weekly multicast, which is hosted by Scott Hanson.
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Launched in 2009, RedZone covers the action from each of the Sunday afternoon NFL windows on CBS and Fox. While both productions were designed to accommodate the aughts-era fantasy football boom, demand for the RedZone feeds is now fueled by a mix of virtual NFL owners and gamblers.
For those without a vested interest in, say, how many yards Matt Breida churns up on the ground against the Commanders or the over/under on a Falcons-Dolphins game, RedZone provides an environment wholly free of the 30-second inveiglements of Flo, J.B. Smoove and that lady in the Little Caesars spot who openly mocks Matthew Stafford’s “Pizza! Pizza!” line reading.
Financial terms of the multiyear deal were not disclosed.
While the RedZone switcheroo will meaningfully expand the distribution for Hanson’s show—with an estimated sub count of 13.3 million households, DirecTV is the nation’s third-biggest pay-TV operator behind cable giants Comcast and Charter—it’ll be anyone’s guess as to how the deal will impact the ratings. As a commercial-free service that reaches fewer than 20% of all U.S. TV homes, RedZone isn’t officially measured by Nielsen. Moreover, the DirecTV sub count is shrinking steadily, as the churn rate for satellite (-13%) is currently outpacing that of cable (-10%).
Since AT&T bought DirecTV in July 2015, the company has lost nearly half (48%) of its pay-TV subs. At the close of that $67 billion deal, DirecTV boasted 25.4 million video customers. AT&T spun off DirecTV in August 2021.
The satellite operator’s current customer tallies include homes that subscribe to the streaming services U-verse and DirecTV Stream. NFL Network and RedZone will be available on all three platforms well ahead of the start of the 2023 NFL season.
“DirecTV was an initial launch partner of NFL Network over 20 years ago and we’re thrilled to continue our long-standing partnership,” Hans Schroeder, executive VP of media distribution for the NFL, said in a statement.
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