DirecTV's NFL Network 'fly-over'

Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's NFL Network!

For the heretofore deprived pro football fans in the Florida cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Orlando, it's time to get out the lawn chairs and break out the brats and the Bud Light.

In the next two weeks, cable subscribers in those parts of the Sunshine State will be able to see NFL Network's live game telecasts simply by venturing outside their homes and looking skyward for the newly launched DirecTV Starship, a blimp being deployed to promote the satellite company's carriage of the football network and its new lineup of high-definition channels.

The Florida cable subs are among millions throughout the United States who have been unable to get NFL Network due to the continuing impasse between the league's TV outlet and operators who disagree over how the channel should be priced to consumers. In the case of the Florida cities it's provider Bright House Networks that has yet to offer NFL Network to its customers.

DirecTV's first “fly over” will be Thursday in Tampa where local residents will be able to watch NFL Network's telecast of the Denver Broncos-Houston Texans game. On Saturday, fans in St. Petersburg — and I mean only the most die-hard of football fans — can see the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Francisco 49ers. Next week, the starship will visit the Orlando area for Thursday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-St. Louis Rams telecast and Saturday’s Dallas Cowboys-Carolina Panthers game.

Here are the starship's vital statistics, courtesy of DirecTV:

"The first of its kind to operate in North America, and one of only two worldwide, the blimp and its 2,100-square foot video light sign display DirecTV HD spots and messaging in full color. The 178-foot long blimp, emblazoned in DirecTV blue and white, features the 70x30-foot full color monitor just beneath the DirecTV logo. The video light sign, with a resolution of 33,600 total pixels, is the largest ever made for a blimp. The airship can travel up to 35 miles per hour and remain airborne up to six hours."