NFL Expands Media Footprint, Launches League Branded Streaming Service

The NFL has launched a league-branded subscription streaming division with live mobile rights previously controlled by Verizon.

NFL +, as the new service is known, is available in two versions. The base cost is $ 5 per month (or $ 40 per year) and the premium tier is $ 10 per month or $ 80 per year.

The main level offers live local and primetime games on mobile and tablet devices, as well as off-market live preseason games. It also features live game audio (via opposing team channels and national broadcasters) and library programming. NFL + Premium adds full, compressed game replays with no ads, plus “Coach Movies” and an “All 22” skin showing all players on the pitch.

News about the broadcast company has been circulating since the league owners met in May. The NFL, like other major sports entities, is increasingly putting its inventory of live games on streaming services. In September, the league will begin an exclusive 10-year deal for Thursday night games with Amazon’s Prime Video. Its long-term renewal with other long-standing partners includes important drivetrain components.

The NFL + setup follows Verizon and Yahoo in previous years, offering live streams of the NFL and other programs for laptops and mobile devices. (Verizon resumed collaborating with the league as a partner last year, but switched from live broadcasting to providing telecommunication and broadband services in stadiums.) With the introduction of the new service, NFL Game Pass, which offered full streaming (but not live). streaming) subscription games will no longer be available in the United States.

The limited batch of market rights acquired by the NFL + is not to be confused with the rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket, the entire batch of weekly games offered exclusively nationwide by DirecTV since 1994. As the current Sunday ticket deal will expire later next season, Amazon and Apple are reportedly taking aggressive action for the package, which is expected to bring the league to more than $ 2 billion annually.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who confirmed during a visit to the Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley earlier this month that The Sunday Ticket “will move to a streaming service,” said details will be revealed. Autumn. Given broadband access and audience demographics in the US, it’s also an obvious possibility that DirecTV or another cable operator may remain a shareholder of the Sunday Ticket.

In a press release, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell called the NFL + launch an important day in league history. “Passionate and devoted football fans are the lifeblood of the NFL and reaching and interacting with them across multiple platforms is incredibly important to us,” he said. “We look forward to continuing to grow the NFL + and deepening our relationship with fans of all ages and demographics by giving them access to a wide range of NFL content, including the most valuable content in the media industry: live NFL games “.