-By Georg Szalai

The NFL's various current TV deals are working out well, including the one that provides NFL Sunday Ticket exclusively on DirecTV, Steve Tisch, chairman and co-owner of the New York Giants, said here Thursday.

"We are committed to our relationship with DirecTV," he said at the annual Media and Money conference, hosted by The Hollywood Reporter's and Mediaweek's parent The Nielsen Co., as well as Dow Jones.

"Right now, we feel DirecTV as the exclusive partner is really in the consumers' best interest."

Some in the TV industry had suggested before the most recent DirecTV renewal that the NFL could make Sunday Ticket available to more than one distributor.

Meanwhile, the NFL Network begins its season broadcasts Thursday night. And while some distributors have balked at the cost of carrying the network, Tisch also described it as "a successful model."

Plus, NFL games on free TV have been seeing record ratings, he added. "The state of the NFL television deals...[is] working very, very successfully now," he summed up.

Tisch was also asked about similarities and differences between the worlds of sports and film. After all, he has been a producer on the likes of Pursuit of Happyness and The Back-Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez, set to be released in March.

"Both film and professional sports, specifically co-owning an NFL franchise, is about the product first," Tisch said. "And both have tremendous fan appeal."

Asked about his brand of movies, he described his interest in character-driven films about people and their relationships. "We have never done the [Jerry] Bruckheimer brand," he said.

Nielsen Business Media