More on the NFL Record-Setting TV Deals

In December, the NFL reached record-setting agreements with the major TV networks for TV rights deals. Starting in 2013, the NFL will be collecting 63% more revenue from their TV partners...and that’s not counting revenue from their own NFL Network. But the networks aren’t the only ones who’ll be paying more. Consumers will too as their cable bills increase. This is sparking increased talk about separating sports channels from other channels to cut non-sports fans a break.

Doing this for ESPN and other all-sports channels - as difficult as that would be - is one thing, but it’s much stickier situation when dealing with networks like Fox, CBS and NBC. These networks have a lot of other entertainment programs and not carrying them on the basic tier is seemingly out of the questions. But someday the increase in rights fees, coupled with increasing carriage fees by the networks, may hasten the switch to a la carte services where subscribers pay just for what they really want.

Read more about the new NFL TV deals in the LA Times.