Amazon will take Thursday Night Football over from FOX.
Streaming services continue to make waves in what used to be a traditional cable TV space with a recent deal between Amazon and the NFL.
Starting 2022, Amazon Prime Video will be the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football (TNF). TNF was previously aired on FOX, which was paying a whopping $650 million per season for the exclusive rights under a five-year agreement.
Initially, Amazon Prime was to take over the rights when FOX's contract ended in 2023. However, rumors are that FOX wanted out from under the cost as soon as possible, and a deal between the network, Amazon Prime, and the NFL was struck to hand over the rights to Amazon starting in 2022 instead.
“This expedited deal is an immediate differentiator for us as a service, as it gives Prime members exclusive access to the most popular sport in the United States,” Marie Donoghue, Amazon’s vice president of global sports video, said in a statement.
Under the 11-season deal, Amazon Prime will now have exclusive rights for TNF from 2022 to 2032. In all, it's a $13.2 billion agreement with the NFL.
This is the first time a streaming service has had exclusive rights to an NFL package, though it has streamed several games since 2017 in partnership with the NFL.
The move has left many worried that they will not have access to TNF games if they aren't Amazon Prime subscribers. However, according to reports, games will still be available in the local markets of teams, similar to when games are aired on ESPN or the NFL network.
Starting in 2022, Prime will air one pre-season game and 15 regular-season games. FOX and the NFL Network will air all TNF games during the 2021 season.
What do you think? Will you be streaming the games on Amazon Prime if you subscribe to the service? If you don't subscribe to the service, will you add it just to watch the games? Let us know in the comments.