Peacock has signed a deal with the National Football League to exclusively hold a playoff game in January, marking the first time the post-season contest will air primarily on the streaming service.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday’s deal between the NFL and NBC Universal’s streaming service is in the range of $110 million. The Peacock playoff game will air on January 13 during the first weekend of the NFL Playoffs or Wild Card Weekend.
Peacock Will also stream one regular-season game Exclusively on December 23 in prime time.
The deal came months after YouTube secured the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, a subscription service for out-of-town games, away from DirecTV, which has aired the programming since its inception in 1994.
The NFL playoffs have been streamed before — Amazon simulcasted a wild card game carried by CBS in 2021 — but the Peacock game will be the first time a postseason game will be available primarily on a streaming platform and not a national broadcast or cable network. But as well.
The home markets of the two teams playing the game would see it via a local television broadcast, most likely via an NBC affiliate.
“This will be transformative for sports on digital,” said Hans Schroeder, executive vice president and chief operating officer of NFL Media, who told the Journal that the decision is part of the NFL’s efforts to attract younger viewers, as well as fans who have Cord is cut. For traditional pay-TV services.
The agreement is for the upcoming NFL season only. The league will have to find a new streaming service again next year if it wants to move forward with the concept.
The deal reflects a broader migration of live sports to the streaming platform, which goes beyond YouTube’s seven-year $2 billion deal with the NFL. Among other platforms that jumped at the opportunity to attract sports fans, Amazon Prime inked a $13.2 billion deal to air the NFL’s Thursday Night Football, and Apple TV+ partnered with MLB for Friday Night Baseball. Made a $595 million deal with $2.5 billion. Tackle Major League Soccer.
Peacock is also moving towards more live sports. It broadcasts English Premier League soccer along with college football games. It also provides the facility of livestreaming till the Olympics. Last week, NBCUniversal said the streamer would carry every single event from this summer’s Paris Games, including all 329 medal events.
