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It seems that Verizon’s exclusivity on watching NFL games is coming to an end. For a long time now, the wireless carrier has held exclusive rights to mobile streaming of live NFL games, but things will change starting January 2018. Today, the wireless company announced a new deal with the sports league where games will be streamed on mobile devices regardless of the carrier.
Starting January 2018 playoffs and beyond, mobile customers regardless of carrier will be able to access NFL games through the official NFL Mobile app, go90, Yahoo Sports app, and Verizon’s on-demand streaming service. A Verizon spokesperson told The Jolt Journal: “All in-market games including national pre-season, regular season, playoffs and Super Bowl will be open to all mobile customers across Verizon and Oath’s platforms next season.”
What this means is that there are still limitations to watching on your local Fox or CBS station and what they would be airing on TV. It’s worth mentioning that DirecTV still has an exclusive grip on out-of-market games.
Even though Verizon has lost exclusivity, the company said that it will continue to sponsor the NFL, and offer “unique experiences” to subscribers “at key NFL events including the Super Bowl, Pro owl, and the NFL Draft.” The company felt that it was no longer worth keeping the exclusive deal to its customers, and would instead use it to boost its other platforms.
“We’re making a commitment to fans for Verizon’s family of media properties to become the mobile destination for live sports,” said Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, Chairman in a press statement. “The NFL is a great partner for us and we are excited to take its premier content across a massive mobile scale so viewers can enjoy live football and other original NFL content where and how they want it.”
