US media company NBCUniversal has expanded its agreement with the NFL to cover mobile rights for the American football league’s Sunday Night Football games.
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.
The agreement also allows NBCUniversal to extend streaming rights to its cable, satellite and telco partners, as well as virtual multi-channel video programming distributors.
For the first time, NBC Sports’ Sunday Night Football mobile stream will include national advertising and local affiliate advertising. National adverts will continue to be sold exclusively by NBCUniversal, and the reach of these commercials will be extended by passing through to US telco Verizon’s network and the NFL’s mobile platforms.
Last week, 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. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but ESPN.com said Verizon will pay approximately $2.5bn (€2.12bn) for a five-year deal.
Under the new contract, Verizon’s portfolio of digital and mobile media properties, including Yahoo Sports, will stream in-market and national games in the US, including national pre-season, regular season, playoff games, and the Super Bowl. The partnership begins in January with streaming of the NFL playoffs on Yahoo and Yahoo Sports, in addition to go90 and the NFL mobile app.
In addition to the expanded availability of live games, the new agreement will provide fans mobile access to NFL highlights, coverage of NFL throughout the week and year, and jointly-developed original content.