The Sport Thread

[Rdd]

So a very strange ending to RedZone from NFL Network, for those watching outside the US.

It seems that for contractural reasons, if the late “quasi national” game is on Fox, and if it is the last game left in play, then NFL RedZone (regardless of any promises of “seven hours of commercial free football”) must sign off and let viewers in the US tune to Fox. This has happened before, and there was obviously complaints that international broadcasters of the NFL might not necessarily be showing the same game, or even if they are, that they are available to the same subscribers (eg in the U.K., RedZone is on the basic tier Sky Sports Mix, while the main coverage is on premium tier Sky Sports NFL). (This doesn’t seem to apply when CBS have the late quasi national game, btw)

So Redzone did a bit of a split tonight. Once the second to last game to finish was over, Redzone was abruptly cut off, and International viewers got a feed of Fox to finish the Green Bay v Baltimore game (with a Back Soon card during US commercials). Once that was finished, a time shifted version of the “every touchdown from every game” montage was broadcast. I gather that in the US, the broadcast concluded with the usual sign off, but with the Green Bay v Baltimore game still in play.