A Great Year for NFL Network CEO Steve Bornstein

Bornstein’s Late Scores Drive NFL Network

With distribution set, CEO’s focus turns to programming

By Jon Lafayette -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/29/2012 12:01:00 AM

THIS HAS BEEN A GREAT YEAR for Steve Bornstein, CEO of the NFL Network and executive VP of media for the league. The network was launched in 2003, and it took until this year to get the last two major cable operators signed up to carry it. Now it has a broad distribution, a full lineup of 13 regular-season games, and so far this season, primetime viewership is up 455% from last year. Bornstein spoke with B&C business editor Jon Lafayette about the state of the network and where it goes next. 

How has having a full 13-week schedule of games changed the network? 

I think obviously starting the second week of the season brought more attention to what we’re doing. It energized our entire schedule, in addition to adding to our live game inventory. 

Those games are also valuable to other television networks. Was starting a network and putting those games on it the right move? 

I think everyone at the league and club level is excited about where we are. They’ve had a long commitment to the network and they’ve never wavered in their support. They have committed support financially and with some of their most precious assets. They had an opportunity to sell those rights, but they decided to make a bet on themselves. Then they bet on themselves again. 

Are you making money and throwing off cash to the team owners? 

I’m not at liberty to tell about our finances. I think everybody is happy not only about the financial performance but the quality of the programming. 

You’ve been waiting to do a deal with Time Warner Cable for almost a decade. When did you feel a deal might really happen? 

Like everything else, it was ‘show me a piece of paper,’ then I’d know it was done. This has been a conversation that’s been ongoing for years. It’s gotten serious a couple of times, and this time, their interest and our interest came together. 

What changed to make the deal finally happen? 

From our perspective, not much changed. We renewed several big distributors this summer. We had two primary guys that we hadn’t signed up, Time Warner and Cablevision. We were able to do a deal with Cablevision. They were really interested in a full season of games on the NFL Network as well as the success of [NFL] RedZone. Time Warner had a similar view that this was the right time and that the value proposition was one that made sense to them. 

Was RedZone a big piece of the value proposition that made these deals happen? 

You’d have to ask them for that answer. But we were always very sure that the RedZone was a popular service with our customers, and the distributors that had it were very pleased with its performance. And at the end of the day, this is all about delivering programming that consumers want. That’s the business the distributors are in. That’s the business we’re in. So I never doubted that we’d get a deal done. Would we have rather gotten the deal done sooner? Sure. But I’m glad we got a deal that works for both of us. 

You didn’t substantially change the terms? 

We had the patience and the discipline to do a market deal. And that was determined a few years ago, and we were able to make a deal that works for everybody. 

What’s the next deal that you have to get done? Is it DirecTV? 

We renewed all of our other big partners in the last six months. DirecTV has a few more seasons left in their contract. But we’re looking at that, we’re looking at some other things as well. I think the digital world is going to be an area that we’re going to try to ! gure out what’s the best way to serve those fans. 

Does it still serve the league’s interest to have the NFL Sunday Ticket package just be with one distributor? 

Right now the model we have seems to be working. We haven’t gotten to figuring out what the best models are in the future for that. Obviously that is going to be a priority at the appropriate time. 

Where does the NFL Network go from here? 

I think we have the ability to really push down on the accelerator and take up our programming a notch. We launched two big initiatives. We did a new two-hour pregame show on Sunday called First on the Field, 7 a.m.-9 a.m. Eastern, and then we’ve made a commitment to program the morning block, 6 a.m.-10 a.m. Eastern Monday-Friday. Both those initiatives met with some good initial success. People are watching. They like it. We have a good stake in the ground as we continue to increase our original programming. 

You turned 60 earlier this year. Now that the NFL Network seems to have graduated high school and is on its way to adulthood, is this a good place for you or is it time to look for other challenges? 
I think the NFL Network is in its post-graduate phase. Me personally? Look, some of my best accomplishments have been being on the ground floor of sports media businesses that have grown to maturity. I’ve had a great career in that regard. I’ve been fortunate to be involved with ESPN and ABC and now the NFL. Those are all great companies. I’m very proud to be here and look forward to continuing. 

When I Googled you, what came up was that you get paid more than NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. It looks like this year, you’re probably having a much better year than he is. 
You can say that line. I can’t.