On April 1, 2024, ESPN officially assumed control of the NFL Network. By May 1, 2024, the channel—and its RedZone Channel—were no longer available on Comcast’s Xfinity service.
According to Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports, the removal stems from a carriage dispute between Comcast and the new owner of NFL Network, Disney/ESPN. Disney addressed the issue in a statement to Glasspiegel:
“We understand how disappointing and disruptive this is for football fans who have lost access to NFL Network and RedZone Channel as part of their Xfinity TV lineup. We proposed keeping these channels available while we continued good-faith negotiations, but unfortunately Comcast declined and took them down. Despite this, we remain fully committed to reaching a fair agreement and restoring access to our best-in-class NFL programming as quickly as possible.”
Comcast responded with its own statement to Glasspiegel:
“Our contract to carry NFL Network and NFL RedZone has expired, and we’re in discussions with the new owner, Disney/ESPN, about our future carriage of the networks.”
With the NFL Draft concluded and no immediate urgency to resolve the dispute, the next major event is the NFL schedule release. ESPN will cover the announcement, though the full schedule will also be available online at the start of the ESPN and NFL Network schedule-release shows.
This marks the first tangible instance of ESPN’s direct responsibility for NFL Network operations. Any future carriage agreement will be negotiated by ESPN, not the NFL Network itself.
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