Sprint adds live NFL Network content

Sprint and the National Football League announced plans to begin broadcasting live NFL game coverage via Sprint handsets, including red-zone drives and related game-changing moments from all contests televised via the NFL Network. The cable channel will produce a three-hour studio show streamed live on NFL.com and via Sprint--coverage will include live game action when a team drives inside its opponents' 20-yard line, during scheduled time slots at the :15 and :45 marks, and at other key moments. The broadcast also promises replays, in-game highlights and analysis, and a halftime show featuring NFL Network host Rich Eisen and analysts Steve Mariucci, Marshall Faulk and Deion Sanders.

It's worth noting that the NFL Network is available in only about 35 million U.S. homes, most of them DirecTV and Dish Network subscribers--major cable operators have refused the NFL's financial demands to carry the channel, which broadcasts only eight live regular season games over the course of the calendar year. The stalemate is now the subject of more fan consternation than ever because Thursday night, the 10-1 Green Bay Packers will travel to Texas to take on the 10-1 Dallas Cowboys, a match-up pitting the two best teams in the NFC that could well determine home-field advantage throughout the playoffs … and because the game will air exclusively on the NFL Network, roughly two-thirds of the country will be unable to see it. On Dec. 29, NFL Network will also exclusively carry a New England Patriots/New York Giants contest that may well involve the Pats seeking to cap off a historic 16-0 regular season…further underscoring the value of the Sprint/NFL deal. If this doesn't drive subscribers (or at least the football-crazed ones) to embrace mobile TV, I don't know what will.

For more on Sprint's live NFL content:
-read this release

Related articles:
SEE here: Sprint debuts original mobile TV network
Sprint rushes ahead with NFL draft coverage
Sprint gameplans Super Bowl mobile coverage
Sprint unveils fall mobile TV schedule
Sprint revamping TV service