LCD set maker Vizio, the top-shipping HD player in the United States in recent quarters, is going one step further than merely sponsoring sports content on the tube as virtually all major HDTV makers do these days.

Vizio has begun developing its own sports content for Fox Television that will consist mostly of interviews with top players and coaches in the National Football League. Dubbed “Vizio’s Profiles,” the half-hour show premiered on Oct. 2 on Fox Sports Network stations in time slots purchased by the California-based LCD maker.

Vizio said in a statement its move beyond sponsoring live and produced sports fare towards actual content creation “provides the company greater opportunity to brand its own content across traditional broadcast and online media.”

But there is another reason that Vizio sees a distinct strategic advantage in producing its own sports content (thereby embedding its corporate branding in the programming and not isolating it separately in commercial spots). The proliferation of DVR usage by viewers, Vizio said, is “forcing every company to reevaluate how it spends its media dollars.”