Comcast is hoping to get some Peacock subscribers.
Times have changed. The National Football League’s Miami Dolphins-Kansas City Chiefs playoff game will be available to around 97 percent of the country by steaming only. It will be on Peacock, Comcast’s streaming service and people who want to see that game will have to deal with getting a Peacock subscription which can be six dollars or $12 a month. The thought of a National Football League playoff game available only on a streaming service should rankle the federal government. After all, with the Sports Broadcast Act of 1961, the modern National Football League was formed as the league could offer all of its games in a package for bidding. In 1961 or 1962 that would have been CBS batting NBC to get the rights.
The NFL would eventually get into cable TV and a problem arose in December of 2007. The New York Giants were scheduled to play the New England Patriots on December 29th and that game was an NFL Network exclusive and the only free TV broadcasts were in the New York and Boston markets. Politicians from both sides of the aisle went after the NFL, the House and Senate could have taken away the NFL’s TV antitrust protection, and demanded that the NFL make the game available for the general public on network TV. The political pressure got to the NFL and the game was suddenly available on both CBS and NBC. That game had an impact on Canada as well as the game went from cable TV to CTV. But there is no outcry about the Dolphins-Chiefs game being available on a streaming service. The game will be shown on local TV stations in the Kansas City and Miami marketplaces. Comcast has paid the NFL $110 million to get NFL games on its Peacock service. Peacock has been a big money loser for Comcast.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
