Millions of Americans Quietly Lose Access to Important Channel Before Football Season

It might be the thick of summer, but football season is fast approaching, with organized team activities already underway for teams across the NFL. Unfortunately, with the NFL season on the way, about 11 million Americans have quietly lost access to an important NFL channel.

While many fans might not have noticed since it's the middle of summer and no NFL games are being played, Comcast Xfinity cable subscribers quietly lost access to the NFL Network at the end of April. More than a month later, that access still has not been restored.

NFL Network Goes Dark

At the end of April, the NFL Network officially went dark for Xfinity cable subscribers after the contract between the two parties expired.

Xfinity customers who turn the channel to NFL Network do not receive any content. Instead, they receive a message explaining the situation.

"This channel is unavailable. Our contract with the owner of this channel has ended," the message reads. "As a result, the channel is currently unavailable through Xfinity."

More than a month later, the dispute has still not been resolved.

Another Carriage Dispute

Football fans might remember the longstanding carriage dispute between Disney and YouTube TV that kept ESPN and ABC off of the service for more than two weeks. Now, football fans could be impacted by another dispute involving Disney.

ESPN, which is owned by Disney, now runs the NFL Network. Xfinity says ESPN and Disney have not proposed a deal that makes sense.

"Comcast pays programmers to bring customers the entertainment, information, and sports they want," Xfinity says on its website. "Comcast works to negotiate fair terms to ensure the greatest value for customers given all the ways content can be accessed today. So far, Disney/ESPN has not proposed a deal that Comcast believes is fair for its customers. Comcast continues to work towards making this programming available again with fair pricing, terms, and conditions for customers."

It's worth noting that Disney claims that it proposed keeping NFL Network available while the two sides negotiated a new contract, but Comcast elected to take it down.

A Major Problem for NFL Fans

While this blackout might not be that big of a deal for NFL fans in May, June, or July, it could be a major problem if it stretches into football season, as it would mean that Xfinity subscribers would lose access to the massively popular NFL RedZone Channel.

NFL RedZone is quite popular for NFL fans on Sunday afternoon, especially for sports bettors and fantasy football lovers, as it is a great way to follow the action across the league. The channel broadcasts seven hours of live football every Sunday afternoon during the regular season with limited ads. It shows small parts of all live Sunday games, specifically cutting to scoring opportunities, touchdowns, and key plays as they happen.

Comcast Xfinity is the second-largest cable provider in the United States, with more than 11 million cable/video subscribers throughout the country. If this dispute is not resolved, they risk losing access to this popular channel for football season.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the Sports section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 6, 2026 at 10:14 AM.