The NFL just announced that a new deal with Peacock that gives the NBCUniversal-owned streaming service national broadcast rights to one wildcard playoff game next season. Described as the “first-ever exclusive live-streamed NFL Playoff game,” two teams will face each other in primetime on January 13, 2024. The arrangement was first reported by The Wall Street Journalciting sources saying the deal for this one game is worth about $110 million.
We don’t know which two teams will play, of course, but for fans without Peacock, viewing options may depend on where you live. Along with a regular season game (Bills vs. Chargers on December 23, or as you may know, the Burn It All game) which will also be a Peacock exclusive, the game will air in those teams’ local markets on an NBC affiliate and on NFL Plus, the league’s subscription streaming platform made for phones and tablets, but not TVs.
The Peacock exclusive Wild Card game and regular season game will air on NBC stations in the two competing team cities and will be available on mobile devices with NFL+. The NFL is the only sports league to broadcast all regular season and postseason games on free wireless television in local markets.
According to the WSJwhen the league made new broadcast deals in 2021, it reserved the rights to one playoff game per season, and this NBCUniversal deal is only for the 2023 postseason. NFL Media exec Hans Schroeder told the outlet that it was “probably” is that the game will be streaming-only for years to come, which could attract bids to put it back on platforms including Peacock, Viacom-owned Paramount Plus, Disney’s ESPN Plus streaming, or Fox’s Tubi.
Disclosure: Comcast, owner of NBCUniversal, is also an investor in Vox Media, The edge‘s parent company.
