NBCUniversal has acquired the rights to stream Sunday Night Football games to smartphones, expanding upon a previous deal that included tablets, desktops and connected TVs but previously excluded the primary mobile device consumers use to connect to the internet.
Beginning with the 2018 season, NBC Sports will stream the games across all platforms through NBC’s TV Everywhere offering. While NBC Sports Digital has been streaming Sunday Night Football games for years, its rights deal with the NFL has always excluded mobile phones.
The agreement allows for NBCUniversal to extend those authenticated streaming rights to its cable, satellite and telco partners, as well as virtual multichannel video programming distributors, which represents an opportunity to massively scale the live streaming options of NFL games beginning next season.