Explaining why league went exclusive to streaming. Why is Chiefs-Dolphins playoff game exclusively on Peacock?
The NFL will air a postseason game entirely on a streaming service for the first time in league history. The Super Wild Card Weekend doubleheader 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 respective clubs, the Miami Dolphins vs. Kansas City Chiefs Saturday night game can only be seen on Peacock (where it will be televised 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 of the playoffs, in January of 2015 (the first year of the new television contract). The NFL attempted to broadcast a postseason game that wasn’t available on free over-the-air broadcast television. That game aired on ESPN exclusively, but that lasted only a year.
Because 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 had 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 television deal.
Live sports have played a significant role in Peacock’s expansion
which is why NBCUniversal is banking on giving this game a one-year trial. There will be no free trials for Peacock.
Technically, 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 televised 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. The Sunday Night Football rights are owned by NBC (three years remaining on a seven-year contract), while the Sunday afternoon wild card games are owned by CBS and Fox. 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 package did not include the Peacock game. That was a distinct transaction.
It’s likely that this playoff game will 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).
