• The Hollywood Reporter, Friday, April 25, 2008 11 AM

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is reaffirming the league's commitment to the NFL Network after a tough run on the distribution side that has had the net battling cable companies for carriage. "We will make the NFL Network a success," Goodell says.

While the channel launched to great fanfare in 2003 and offers a late-season prime-time package designed to boost distribution among holdouts like Time Warner Cable, Charter and Cablevision, it has fallen from 42 million homes to about 32 million after legal battles with Comcast and EchoStar.

Network execs note the distribution challenge, but say that NFL Network ratings still rose by double digits in key demographic groups during the regular season -- and in the months since the Super Bowl. Goodell says the league is committed to getting more distribution, but says no more talks are on tap with Time Warner Cable, for one.

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