I have the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV which allows me to watch nearly every NFL game on my laptop or PC. Of course, I must pay a gazillion dollars for the privilege.Well, the rest of you will be able to get 17 NFL games streamed on your computers for free. The games will be from the NBC feeds which the NFL will stream live. The advertising that NBC sold will be taken out of the streaming broadcast and the NFL will re-sell ad time.
The move is significant for the NFL, as it continues to ramp up its digital offerings and open its content on more platforms. The league always has been extremely protective of its game action, doling out limited use of highlights and vigorously safeguarding the television broadcast. Two years ago the league took management of NFL.com in-house, and last year that site was the only place on the Web where users could find limited game highlights.The NFL has actually lagged behind baseball and basketball in this regard. The league banks on its TV contracts and doesn't want to tread on those deals (word is that ESPN, CBS and Fox are a bit miffed). However, they are looking at new revenue streams and ways to get its product out to more people.
Now it will be interesting to see if America's most valuable television sports property, already bringing in more than $3 billion a year from its television partners, can find value on the Web without harming its lucrative TV contracts.
NBC is into this since they are set to stream tons of Olympics footage from Beijing next month ... and the fact that they broadcast just one game a week. CBS and Fox have many games, making the stream a bit difficult. ESPN and NFL Network aren't interested in having their games available because that's their big tickets on cable systems' plans.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-26-2008 @ 12:19PM
Jeremy said...
Just to clarify, will I be able to see any game that NBC broadcasts throughout the nation, or only the one offered by my local affiliate?
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7-26-2008 @ 12:22PM
Gina said...
Isn't Sunday Night Football the only games NBC gets? Those are broadcast nationally anyway, from a fans point of view I don't see how this makes a huge difference.
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7-26-2008 @ 1:46PM
soulcitysigma1914 said...
Sportz, forgive me for being slow but I don't understand why NBC doesn't have a problem with this. i would think that they would always want to be in a position where they are offering a game exclusively. of course this won't affect nbc's viewership of the games, nobody will choose the comp over the tv to watch a game and everyone gets nbc, but still just to have the corner market on the advertising, i'd think that's what nbc would demand if they paid for the nfl package
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7-26-2008 @ 2:25PM
Tha_Prowler said...
i don't get it.....
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7-26-2008 @ 8:55PM
Sportz Assassin said...
I'm sure NBC is a bit bent by this despite the fact that the NFL will be sliding them something (they should since they are using their feed and announcers). However, I really don't think it is that big a threat to the network. They are the only game at that time and it isn't like someone will choose watching the game over the internet over a TV.
For ESPN and NFL Network, it would be a huge threat since NFL games is what makes them valuable to cable systems (it would ruin NFL-N). For CBS and Fox, it would be a killer since fans may elect to watch an out-of-market game rather than the one the local game is showing and selling advertising for.
By the way, all this stuff is already available to NFL Sunday Ticket subscribers on DirecTV (I am one of them). However, that has all been agreed on by everyone when the TV contracts were signed. This is some new stuff that the NFL has hatched out in the middle of the contract that the networks feel undermine what they paid for.
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