US sports broadcaster ESPN has added live mobile streaming of Monday Night Football games to its coverage of the NFL American football league.
The deal will grant ESPN subscribers access to mobile coverage of the games until the end of the 2021 NFL season, when the broadcaster’s existing rights agreement with the league expires. The expanded partnership also includes mobile highlights packages.
The agreement begins with the NFL Wild Card weekend on January 6-7 and the Pro Bowl on January 29. ESPN will hold the rights to deliver highlights and stream Monday Night Football on an authenticated basis to fans on ESPN-branded digital properties across all devices and platforms.
ESPN already has rights to stream its NFL-branded studio shows, such as Sunday NFL Countdown, Monday Night Countdown and NFL Live, across computers, phones, tablets, connected televisions and OTT devices. Monday Night Football included those platforms with the exception of mobile devices.
The deal comes after US media company NBCUniversal earlier this week added Sunday Night Football mobile rights to its partnership with the NFL. NBC Sports has been streaming Sunday Night Football on desktops, tablets and connected TVs for a number of years, but from 2018 coverage will be made available through its TV Everywhere service on mobile devices for the first time.
Last week, US telco Verizon signed a multi-year extension to its partnership with the NFL, through which it will remain a rights partner and sponsor of the league. The new deal means Verizon is no longer the NFL’s exclusive mobile rights partner.