HBO Sacking “Inside The NFL”

Last Episode Airs Tonight After More Than 3 Decades

By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 2/6/2008 10:39:00 AM

Home Box Office is passing on its long-running series Inside The NFL after 31 years.

Tonight’s episode will be the last for the series, which since 1977 has recapped the prior week’s National Football League games via highlights and analysis from hosts Bob Costas and former NFL players Dan Marino, Cris Carter and Cris Collinsworth. That show, which will recap the New York Giants Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots, will feature a short retrospective of the series’ history, according to HBO executives.

Director of Corporate Communications Dan Masonson said the league plans to continue the highlights show next season with another network, although he would not provide specific details.

Inside The NFL was one of the first studio shows to offer post-game highlights and analysis of weekly NFL games, but today faces a bevy of competition from similar shows on such cable networks as ESPN.

“Inside the NFL has been a hallmark program for three decades on HBO,” HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg said in a statement. “It has been a terrific franchise … but the television landscape has changed quite a bit over the last 30 years and we have to recognize the realities of the business. I’m not sure we had more than one competitor when the show launched.”