The major offseason news on the NFL’s broadcast front was as disappointing as it was surprising. HBO’s decision to drop “Inside the NFL” after 31 years not only shocked the program’s hosts but also eliminated one of the league’s best and most thoughtful studio shows.

With a Wednesday-night debut and several re-airings the rest of the week, “Inside the NFL” filled fans’ midweek craving by offering NFL Films’ unique highlights of the previous weekend’s games, analysis of the upcoming games and smart, glib, enlightened dialogue among the hosts.

Bob Costas, on the show’s final episode, said it best, calling HBO’s move “a bone-headed decision to discontinue one of the best and longest-running shows on television.”

Off the air, Costas said in mid-March, “It was a budgetary decision. This was the place they could cut the most off their budget. It was such a good show because of the quality.”

The show’s ratings remained consistent over the years, attracting slightly more than two million viewers per week this TV season. But HBO spent more than $10 million annually on the program — including about $6 million for NFL Films highlights — and ­didn’t want to continue paying that amount for a program it felt was no longer unique enough for premium cable.

“The television landscape has changed quite a bit over the last 30 years, and we have to recognize the realities of the business,” HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said. “I’m not sure we had more than one competitor when the show launched in 1977.”

For this viewer, the biggest lure wasn’t the highlights, but the discourse on meaty issues (including whether the NFL mishandled “Spygate”) and the creative, ambitious feature stories that you wouldn’t see on the Sunday-afternoon rights-holders.

And HBO put together a quartet that meshed — Cris Collinsworth (there for 18 years), Dan Marino (eight) and Costas and Cris Carter (six each). They could engage each other in a serious discussion one minute and exchange lighthearted barbs the next. The humor came naturally and rarely lapsed into the silliness that viewers witness on other NFL pregame shows.

Former hosts Len Dawson and Nick Buoniconti also deserve credit for capably carrying the show’s torch for its first 23 years. NFL Films will continue to produce its distinct game highlights, and the NFL hopes the program will be reincarnated on another network, with different hosts, though that’s far from certain. ESPN, TNT, TBS and Versus would all be possibilities. An NFL Network spokesman said his network isn’t interested because it has similar programming.

When “Inside the NFL” signed off for a final time in February, all of the show’s hosts had other TV jobs except Carter. But that changed later in the month when ESPN hired the former All-Pro receiver to be an analyst on multiple platforms, including “NFL Live,” “SportsCenter,” ESPNews, ESPN Radio and ESPN’s draft coverage.

Carter essentially replaces Sean Salisbury, whose contract was not renewed. Brash and highly opinionated, Salisbury somehow parlayed a highly mediocre playing career into a 12-year stay at ESPN. Ultimately, though, his act wore thin with some viewers.

Unfortunately, ESPN won’t replace Emmitt Smith with Carter on “NFL Countdown.” But Carter could replace Keyshawn Johnson if Johnson decides to return to the field — something he was still mulling as of this writing. Johnson said he was having a difficult time deciding but denied a report that Bill Parcells had offered him a chance to play for the Dolphins.

 Asked what he would do now, retiring Packers QB Brett Favre said, “Nothing.” Favre has displayed no inclination to pursue broadcasting. But if he does, ESPN has expressed strong interest. CBS and Fox say their rosters are full, and NBC was noncommittal.

 Credit Fox’s Jay Glazer for breaking the Favre retirement story — just the latest in a string of scoops by Glazer over the past year. Meanwhile, has anyone ever announced his retirement in a voice mail? Favre did just that, leaving a three-minute message on the cell-phone voice mail of ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, who couldn’t pick up his phone because he was on the air at the time discussing Favre’s retirement. And Favre also tried to call Peter King, who was unavailable because he was in Kyrgyzstan on a seven-day USO trip with NFL players.

 Kudos to ESPN for bulking up its offseason NFL coverage, including sending Todd McShay to key pro days and doing an analysis of each of the 32 teams on “SportsCenter.” “NFL Live,” which airs at 4 p.m. ET, has been replayed at midnight on many weeknights.

 NFL games were the six most-watched programs on television during the current TV season, topped by the Super Bowl, which was seen in 97.5 million homes and by a record 148.3 million viewers. The highest-rated regular-season game was Patriots-Giants in Week 17, seen in 34.5 million homes. And the NFL’s popularity, already high worldwide, grew even more this year. Super Bowl ratings were up 51 percent in England and 63 percent in France.

Barry Jackson covers sports broadcasting for the Miami Herald.