When the NFL decided to add commercials to RedZone Channel — which had long been advertised as “Seven hours of commercial-free football” — the spin from the league was that these commercials would be no big deal. Just four 15-second ads during the whole seven-hour show.
That didn’t last long.
The NFL has now increased the number of commercials on RedZone Channel, making the subscription service a worse product for the paying customers — but more lucrative for the NFL and the billionaire owners who are delighted to find new ways to squeeze money out of the fans.
Commercials were noticeably more frequent on today’s RedZone Channel, as the NFL has taken a product that fans could once turn on and enjoy nothing but football all day Sunday and turned it into a product that is riddled with commercial interruptions.
What the NFL has done to RedZone is fundamentally different than the commercials during a regular game. Football fans are well accustomed to commercials after scores and changes of possession, and fans can accept that those breaks are part of the game. RedZone was always — always — billed as something different, something “commercial-free,” something hard-core fans should be willing to pay a premium for because it’s nothing but football.
Now it’s not. Now it’s football and commercials, with the number of commercials only increasing and the football therefore decreasing. It may mean more money for the NFL, but it’s a raw deal for the fans who subscribe to RedZone.
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