The NFL is looking for additional revenue streams. It already has its billions of dollars set from CBS, ESPN, Fox and NBC for TV rights, now it’s seeking millions more for the online rights. Back in January, the league signed a deal to divide Thursday Night Football between CBS, NBC and NFL Networkfor a reported $450 million annually. Now the NFL is hoping to sign a tech company to stream the TNF package in its entirety.
A report from re/code states that there are three companies which have solid interest, one which may or not be interested and that seems to have dropped out of the bidding.
Peter Kafka writes that Facebook has shown interest in paying for NFL content which is a shift from its previous policies of not wanting to pay. The service has been paying small fees to celebrities to use its use its streaming platform.
Other contenders include Amazon and Verizon which already has rights to Sunday afternoon, Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football plus the playoffs and the Super Bowl.
Kafka says Yahoo which streamed a regular season London game last year may have cooled on the idea of bidding for streaming. And it appears Apple is not interested at all.
The package would include the rights to all 18 games in the Thursday Night Football series. CBS and NBC which will each air five games will have the rights to stream those games.
The NFL owners will meet on March 20 and the league hopes to have the online streaming deal wrapped up by then.
[re/code]
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