NBCUniversal has signed a new deal with the NFL which will allow it to stream Sunday Night Football games to mobile devices through its NBC TV Everywhere app beginning with the 2018 season.
As Deadline points out, those games were already available for streaming through the app on tablets and connected TVs, but now mobile phones can officially be a part of that as well. The development comes after Verizon recently signed a new distribution deal with the NFL and lost its exclusive rights to streaming NFL games to mobile phones.
RELATED: Verizon pays more for less with loss of exclusivity in $2.25B NFL deal
Verizon’s new NFL deal, said to be worth $2.25 billion, gave up the mobile exclusivity but allows Verizon to stream NFL games across its other digital properties including the combined AOL and Yahoo properties (now part of a company named Oath) and its streaming video service Go90.
For NBC, the new NFL deal lets it offer streaming rights for Sunday night games to its traditional MVPD and virtual MVPD partners. NBC’s streams of the games will include both national and local affiliate advertising, according to Deadline.
"We have been streaming Sunday Night Football on numerous platforms since 2008, but as a result of this agreement, 2018 will be the first time we can stream prime-time television’s No. 1 show on all digital platforms, creating a more seamless viewing experience for NFL fans,” said Rick Cordella, executive vice president and general manager of digital media for NBC Sports Group, in a statement. “In addition to fans, this mobile agreement benefits our distribution partners, local affiliates, and advertisers, as it significantly extends SNF’s digital reach.”
In addition to Sunday Night Football, NBC pays a significant amount to the NFL to the rights to Thursday Night Football games. In 2016, NBC and CBS both paid $450 million to split the rights for Thursday night games over the next two years.