15 May 2023

NFL Network Gets New Deal with Comcast; Peacock Gets Exclusive NFL Playoff Game

Today news broke that the NFL had agreed to sell the rights to a playoff game to Comcast's past-nascent-but-not-yet-well-established Peacock streaming service. This is quite a coup for Peacock. Generally, the NFL, as the purveyor of the most popular sports programming sticks to leading television services for their marquee events. Amazon Prime Video, after all, started with a package of often-lackluster Thursday night regular season games in its first NFL season.

Close observers will note that less than two weeks ago, on May 2, 2023, NFL chief Roger Goodell and Comcast leader Brian Roberts were personally involved in negotiating a new agreement for NFL Network and NFL Red Zone, restoring the service to the systems of nation's largest cable operator after they had been dropped a day earlier.

It appears the parties recognized that each had something the other really wanted.