The NFL will air a postseason game entirely on a streaming service for the first time in league history. The Super Wild Card doubleheader weekend on the NBC platforms on Saturday night will only be available to stream on Peacock, not on free over-the-air television.
Unless the spectator resides in the local television areas of the individual clubs, the Miami Dolphins vs. Kansas City Chiefs Saturday night game can only be seen on Peacock, and that too for free. Peacock subscription plans are available for everyone else in the nation for $5.99 a month.
When the Carolina Panthers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in the first-round playoff wild card game in January 2015 (the first year of the new television deal), the NFL attempted to broadcast a postseason game that wasn’t available on free over-the-air broadcast television once. ESPN was the sole channel to carry that game, although it was only for a year.
ESPN televised the game on ABC
As it was the lowest-rated playoff game in the league in six years, ESPN televised the game on ABC in the years that followed. Up until this past Saturday’s Super Wild Card round match on Peacock, no postseason game in the league has been excluded from broadcast television.
Why, therefore, is this game only available via streaming services? For a one-year contract, NBC Universal paid the NFL $110 million last year to broadcast a wild card game on Peacock.
With three exclusive games available for streaming during the regular season—a Thursday Night Football game on Amazon Prime, an international game on ESPN+, and a Saturday night game on Peacock—the league will be testing out its new broadcast deal.
Games on Peacock this weekend
In theory, Peacock will broadcast three NFL playoff games this weekend. Three games are scheduled for this weekend: the Cleveland Browns vs. Houston Texans on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.; the Dolphins vs. Chiefs on Saturday at 8 p.m.; and the Los Angeles Rams vs. Detroit Lions on Sunday at 8 p.m.; however, two of those games will be shown on NBC and Peacock.
The wild card game for CBS will stream on Paramount+ and air on CBS; similarly, the game for ESPN will stream on ESPN+ and air on ESPN as well as ABC.
This year, NBC has the television rights to the Saturday afternoon game (which is alternated annually between CBS, Fox, and NBC) under the terms of the playoff television arrangement.
In the third year of a seven-year contract, NBC is the owner of the Sunday night game rights, while CBS and Fox are in charge of the Sunday afternoon wild card games. The league has given ESPN a five-year contract to broadcast a Monday night wild card game, which is currently in its third year.
The bundle did not include the Peacock game. That was a distinct transaction.
This playoff game will likely be streamed on a streaming service once more if both subscriptions and viewership are strong (NBC reported that 5.7 million people watched the Saturday night game on December 23 on Peacock alone).
Social Media is buzzing
Though it’s against the law, there is one method to watch this game for free.
Sports have always been heavily reliant on illegal streaming services, not just in the United States but globally as well. The NFL, NBA, and UFC announced back in August that they had lost over $28 billion in total as a result of illicit streaming services.
Even though these streams are prohibited, millions of people still choose to use them since there isn’t any control around them. So many people are aware of some of the most well-known websites, which helps to explain why one of them is currently trending on X.
Thousands of people are writing on social media about how these services are having a field day because so many people don’t want to pay the charge for Peacock, which is why “Streameast” is currently trending.
Why are the NFL & NBC doing this?
The choice to stream this playoff game just on Peacock has not been well-received by the public.
Even well-known athletes like Charles Barkley have voiced their unease; the TNT NBA analyst referred to the NFL as “greedy” for taking this stance.
It is without a doubt about the flow of money. It is said that NBC on Comcast is spending $110 million to broadcast this one game.
