Comcast reaches agreements with NFL, ESPN

This has been a good day if you're a sports fan who subscribes to Comcast.

Hours after Comcast announced it had reached a long-term deal to move the NFL Network from its Sports Entertainment Package to the more widely distributed Digital Classic level, it was revealed Comcast also would add ESPNU to the Digital Classic tier. ESPN360.com now will be made available on Comcast.net as well.

Neither ESPNU nor ESPN360 previously had been available through the service provider.

This is especially good news for Gophers fans, considering the university has had some of its football and basketball games on both ESPNU and ESPN360 in recent seasons. ESPNU also carries college hockey.

Comcast, the largest cable provider in Minnesota, will launch ESPNU in a majority of its cable systems in time for the start of the college football season. ESPN360.com will be made available to Comcast's high-speed Internet customers for no additional charge. That service should be ready to go in time for this year's college football season.

As for Comcast's agreement with the NFL, this ends what had been a lengthy legal battle and gives the NFL Network the type of distribution the league had wanted. The network will now reach nearly two-thirds of the company's total digital customer base. The carriage agreement consists of a broad array of video content, including video on demand for Comcast's Digital Classic cable customers, and the ability to offer the NFL's RedZone Channel when it is created.

As part of this agreement, the NFL also has reached two-year contract extensions of its deal with CBS and Fox that will now take those contracts through 2013. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the extensions today during his news conference at the owners meetings in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Those networks will be impacted by Comcast customers getting the RedZone Channel because it potentially could take viewers away from the network games.