NEW YORK: The National Football League is close to closing a deal with Fox and CBS on future carriage of Sunday afternoon games, according to published reports. The deal would give the networks a two-year extension with a 3 to 5 percent rights revenue bump on a contract up next year.The negotiations are in conjunction with a stand-off between NFL and Comcast over distribution of the league’s own cable channel. NFL is offering its Sunday Red Zone Channel of live, multiple-game drop-ins as an incentive for the cable operator to beef up channel distribution, Sports Business Journal reports.
The current deal between the NFL, Fox and CBS, signed in 2004, provides an annual rights revenue increase of 4 percent, with Fox paying $712.5 million a year for games in one NFL conference, and CBS paying $622.5 million for the other, SBJ said. The deal would also likely include a Super Bowl telecast for each network
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