In an unprecedented move, Peacock has become the first streaming service to gain exclusive rights to one of the most valuable properties in all of television — an NFL playoff game.
NBC announced Monday that Peacock will carry an exclusive NFL playoff game on Wild Card weekend, marking the first time ever that a playoff game in any of the four major sports has been carried exclusively on a streaming service. The Peacock game will be the nightcap of the NFL’s Wild Card weekend doubleheader, with NBC and Peacock carrying the early game that afternoon.
NBC will also air a Wild Card game on the following day, making it the first company to carry three NFL playoff games on a single weekend. ESPN/ABC, CBS and FOX will carry one Wild Card game each.
The new NFL media rights deals that begin this season grant Peacock rights to one exclusive regular season game per season from 2023 to 2028. This season, that game will be Bills-Chargers on a Saturday night in Week 16. The prospect of Peacock — or any other streamer — carrying a playoff game this soon was not expected.
The playoff game does not fall under the broader rights deal, but is instead the result of a one-year agreement between NBC and the NFL worth in the neighborhood of $110 million, per The Wall Street Journal.
Not only will the Wild Card weekend game mark the first playoff game ever to air exclusively on a streaming service, it will also be just the second NFL playoff game that did not air on a broadcast network. ESPN carried a Cardinals-Panthers Wild Card game exclusively in 2015. In every year since, ESPN’s playoff games have been simulcast on ABC.
Like all NFL games on cable, Peacock’s playoff game will be available to watch over-the-air in the participating teams’ home markets. As one would imagine, the over-the-air simulcasts will air on NBC affiliates. The game will also be available to watch on the NFL+ app.
(News from NBC Sports, WSJ 5.15)
