 The network signed a letter of intent, an early step towards a master agreement, with the National Cable Television Cooperative.The Football Network went public on October 20, 1998, when it began trading on the OTC bulletin board to help it attract the funding necessary to launch.Over the next few years the company laid the groundwork for the establishment of a channel from extensive qualitative and quantitative market research, to hiring Newberger Greenberg and Associates, the media consulting firm who did the business plans for The Golf Channel.