This is something that will make my TSR cohort John Paulsen happy…

The National Football League announced Monday an agreement to extend DirecTV’s rights to carry the NFL Sunday Ticket through the 2014 NFL season.

As part of the agreement, NFL fans who are not subscribers of DirectTV will be able to purchase the Sunday afternoon game package.

This service will be offered no later than 2012.

The NFL also announced it will offer fans (also no later than 2012) a new “Red Zone Channel” that shows live cut-ins of all Sunday afternoon games starting at 1 p.m. and continuing through the conclusion of the 4 p.m. games. The “Red Zone Channel,” which has been part of the service on DirecTV for the last four years, will be available to cable, telco and satellite systems, wireless devices, and the Internet.

…but he’ll apparently have to wait until 2012 to get it.