NFL Network coming to Cablevision!!! August 16, 2012

Effective tomorrow, NFL Network and NFL RedZone will be added to Cablevision’s lineup.  Via NFL.com:

BETHPAGE, NY and NEW YORK, NY — August 16, 2012 – NFL Network and Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), the largest TV provider in the nation’s top media market, announced today that they have reached a multi-year agreement for carriage of NFL Network and the NFL RedZone channel.

NFL Network will make its debut in Cablevision homes beginning Friday. NFL Network will be available on channel 150 in both standard-definition and HD for customers who subscribe to iO Preferred, iO Silver, iO Gold or the iO Sports & Entertainment Pak. NFL RedZone, which airs on Sundays throughout the regular season, will be offered in both standard-definition and HD on channel 151 as part of the iO Sports & Entertainment Pak, which is now included in the new iO Gold package, which was launched last spring. …

Cablevision customers like myself have been waiting for this day since the network launched nearly a decade ago.  I learned of this from Steve Somers on WFAN twenty minutes before publishing this post.

NFL Network will round out a trio of channels devoted to professional sports leagues.  iO (Interactive Optimum) channel 148 is NBA TV and 149 is MLB Network.

Thank you very much, Cablevision.

8/18 UPDATE: Here is the Steve Somers monologue that tipped me off to NFL Network’s arrival on Cablevision.  After talking about the Mets and Yankees results, he got to the big deal at the 9:02 mark.  My transcript (listen along):

As you have heard [earlier in the day on WFAN], Cablevision has taken on the NFL Network, giving the face of the NFL Network, Rich Eisen, the opportunity to extol the virtues of the cable industry in general, and the NFL Network in particular, as we heard on his live infomercial, apparently sponsoring Joe and Evan this afternoon.  Rich will also appear with Joe and Evan sometime soon, where we will actually hear from him discussing football!  …

Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts filled in for Mike Francesa all this week.