Friday Night Lights to Debut on DIRECTV

Season 3 of NBC’s hit series Friday Night Lights will return to television following Super Bowl 2009.  However, you can catch the season premiere before anyone else with DirecTV.  DirecTV will broadcast new episodes of the series beginning in October.  The decision was reached after NBC, Universal Media Studios and DirecTV came to a deal to form a partnership.  This is a major event, considering that satellite TV subscribers will get to see new episodes of a hit TV show before traditional network viewers.  NBC will continue to broadcast the show on Fridays (the third season premiering after the Super Bowl), while DirecTV gets the rights to broadcast 13 new episodes beginning October 1, 2008 on its channel 101.

How did NBC come to this agreement?  NBC spokespersons stated that it was an innovative deal that would be a “win-win” for all three parties, not to mention the many fans who make Friday Night Lights a big ratings success.  It was said to be a mutually beneficial agreement arrangement and one that may represent a new business model.  NBC surely realized that with this deal, they were not directly competing against DirecTV, since most DirecTV subscribers watch NBC to begin with.  However, by previewing the series a few months early via satellite TV, the network could raise interest in the show, while DirecTV profited in the short-term.

Ever since its debut in 2006 Friday Night Lights has earned a large fan following as well as multiple awards in the industry, including an Emmy, a Peabody Award and a Television Critics Association prize.  The show has also been named one of the best on television by magazines such as Entertainment Weekly and Time.  What type of viewers enjoy this football-themed show?  According to Media Life Magazine and Nielsen Media Research, FNL’s most popular fan base is among affluent viewers.  Perhaps this means that people involved in professional or college football are the ones who relate most to the series.

Just what is Friday Night Lights about?  The series is actually based on a book titled Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream.  The book was published in 1990 and was originally intended as a journalistic work, one fact-based analysis of a high school football team in Odessa, Texas.  The book was made into a movie in 2004, starring Billy Bob Thornton and directed by Peter Berg, who is now an executive producer on the TV series.

The story follows the community of Dillon, Texas and how the trials of a high school football team seem to affect the entire town.  The series has an ensemble cast, though one of the main characters is Panthers’ football coach Eric Taylor, played by Kyle Chandler.  He is married to Tami Taylor, played by Connie Britton, who is a guidance counselor at Dillon High, and is the father of Julie Taylor, played by Aimee Teegarden.  Other important characters in the series are the star quarterback Jason Street (played by Scott Porter) who suffers an injury that ends his football career, and star running back Brian Smash Williams, played by Gaius Charles.

The idea of the series is that as exciting as football can be as a sport, there is always a human drama going on behind the scenes, or better yet, behind the catches.  DirecTV states that it is honored to be part of a groundbreaking TV deal that promotes a great series in Friday Night Lights.