WHERE WILL INSIDE THE NFL LAND?
With the last episode of Inside the NFL now in the viewing rotation on HBO, it’s unclear where the show will resurface in 2008. A source with knowledge of the show tells us that HBO was paying NFL Films a whopping $8 million per year for the rights to use the highlights of NFL games. Add to that estimated annual production costs of $20 million, and that’s a hefty price tag for any network to pay. Still, it’s a relatively cheap way to bring the NFL to a network that currently doesn’t have it, especially in light of what it costs to televise actual games. The cash influx resulting from the rights fee makes it unlikely that the show will land on NFL Network, and more likely that we’ll see it on TBS or TNT or some other network that currently isn’t airing NFL games. Another factor nudging the show to something other than CBS or NBC or FOX or ESPN/ABC is the potential for controversy arising from some of the story lines. For example, the source believes that a recent item on how the 1925 NF
