Posted Wed Apr 6, 2016 at 04:00 PM PDT by Steven Cohen
Fans will be able to stream Thursday Night Football games during the upcoming 2016 NFL season.
The National Football League has announced a partnership with Twitter to offer live OTT digital streams of Thursday Night Football games. The free live streams will be available globally through Twitter on a variety of mobile and connected devices.
"Twitter is where live events unfold and is the right partner for the NFL as we take the latest step in serving fans around the world live NFL football," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. "There is a massive amount of NFL-related conversation happening on Twitter during our games and tapping into that audience, in addition to our viewers on broadcast and cable, will ensure Thursday Night Football is seen on an unprecedented number of platforms this season. This agreement also provides additional reach for those brands advertising with our broadcast partners."
As part of the deal, Twitter will stream the 10 upcoming Thursday Night Football games being broadcast by NBC and CBS. The games will also be simulcast on NFL Network, completing a "Tri-Cast" distribution model with broadcast (NBC/CBS), cable (NFL Network), and digital (Twitter) options. The live Twitter streams will be viewable for free without authentication to the over 800 Million registered and non-registered Twitter users worldwide on mobile phones, tablets, PCs and connected TVs. Beyond the games themselves, Twitter will also offer in-game highlights from TNF and pre-game Periscope broadcasts from players and teams.
"This is about transforming the fan experience with football. People watch NFL games with Twitter today," said Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO. "Now they'll be able to watch right on Twitter Thursday nights."
The 2016 NFL Regular Season will kick off on Thursday, September 8. The NFL previously offered a free live stream in conjunction with Yahoo for their October 25 game between the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
Source: NFL
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