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For the first time ever, NFL games will stream over the Internet. And they’ll be available for viewing at the whopping cost of zero dollars, zero cents.
Wow.
According to Terry Lefton and John Ourand of SportsBusiness Journal, whose story will be published on July 28, the 17 NBC games will be available for viewing at NFL.com and NBCSports.com.
The apparent plan is to use the televised broadcast, with ads sold specifically for the web sites inserted in place of the commercials.
Other NFL broadcast partners aren’t happy with the development, according to SBJ.
“The NFL is changing the rules as we go,” a network source told SBJ. “The right to stream games was not in any of the contracts we signed.”
NBC also might face friction from affiliates who’ll lose ratings points to folks who watch the game on the Internet instead.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
The computer competes with broadcast tv sports now…
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Rating: 1.15 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
July 25th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Who does this benefit? Football fans without without TVs? Yea, there are a TON of those.
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Rating: 2.4 / 5 with 9 rating(s)
July 25th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Great! I was hoping to watch NFL football in a grainy 4 inch window in between pauses of “buffering…please wait”!
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Rating: 3.75 / 5 with 12 rating(s)
July 25th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
About time!
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Rating: 4.35 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
July 25th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Football makes enough money…why shouldnt we all get to see the games and/or teams that we wanna see, and not have to pay extra for it…
It’ll only make the sport more popular. (As if you need more exposure.)…And you guys more money…
Tell us all how much you’ll all starve if we get to watch our favorite team for free…
GFY..
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Rating: 4.8 / 5 with 10 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Clearly people watching games over the internet would only be watching because they can’t on TV…so who does this hurt?
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Rating: 4.65 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 12:19 am
Who does it benefit? How about the people who like teams that never get the prime time games and don’t live in the local market?
I get to see Detroit play 1x a year. I realize most would consider that a blessing, but I get some sort of sick enjoyment out of watching them. (and declaring that next season I will find another team).
What scares me is the move to the internet with a price tag attached. It is just a matter of time before they start charging to watch any game.
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Rating: 4.25 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 12:20 am
as someone who is going abroad for literally the entirety of football season, let me just say YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSss
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Rating: 4.15 / 5 with 8 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 12:27 am
i doubt it makes a difference… if you can afford a computer w/ internet that can stream live football games at a decent quality, odds are you probably already have a tv that gets NBC. just a thought.
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Rating: 1.85 / 5 with 7 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 12:38 am
“Who does this benefit? Football fans without without TVs? Yea, there are a TON of those.”
That’s me. I am in college and don’t feel like paying $17 a month or whatever it is for basic cable, but I do need the internet for research and papers. I am 21 now so it is a moot point as I will just go to the sports bar and watch all the games there, but I like the idea of allowing me to view a game in the comfort of my own apartment.
Oh and I used the cable to try and get in CBS for most of the Bills games, it worked, but not that great.
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Rating: 4.75 / 5 with 8 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 12:54 am
I hope this leads to NFL Network doing the same thing, especially since I’m a COMCAST customer who can’t access NFL Network without effectively doubling my monthly cable bill.
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Rating: 4.8 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 1:10 am
In all honesty i’m not sure if it’s a good idea putting music on the internet was supposed to be a good idea too, and now it’s destroying the industry not saying free video streams will be the death of the NFL but who knows in this digital age, right?
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Rating: 1.35 / 5 with 11 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 1:29 am
I’m guessing this is going to be for folks in the US & that us less fortunate Europeans will have to get our proxies lined up..
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 1:34 am
Well this is sweet because I work during most of the football games on Sundays and I would benefit from this so I can get paid and watch football…… good job nbc
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 1:47 am
Wow? CBS put the entire NCAA basketball tournament on sportsline.com. Is this really that shocking?
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 2:01 am
I wish all the games were online — even if we had to pay for it.
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 2:30 am
“Who does this benefit? Football fans without without TVs? Yea, there are a TON of those.”
It also benefits international fans. Who are probably a slightly larger potential market than “football fans without (without) TVs”…
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 4:24 am
Unfortunately only in the US me guesses,
I have been watching via the yahoo nfl gamepass service (which is Sunday Ticket via Internet livestream) the past two years here in Germany. Though that is a bit expensive the service is waaaay better than the pay tv service over here (none of the tv station over here offers HD anyway). Can’t imagine that NBC streams HD quality, so there still is a benefit for the TV signal.
Luckily US$ dropped in value against the Euro the past years, makes the subscription much cheaper this year:-)
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 4:47 am
This is great news.
The doosh who said “Who does this benefit? Football fans without without TVs? Yea, there are a TON of those”…
…Obviously didn’t consider the millions of fans accross the world who don’t get channels like NBC…. and are stuck with the BBC
Question is, will this work for people outside the US? If you try to use official website catch up services for shows like prison break, lost etc, you get rejected because your outside the US….
Now all we need is FOX to follow this lead with their NFC games…. and we’re sorted!
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Rating: 4.35 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 4:59 am
Now maybe I can catch a Dolphins game….
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Rating: 4.75 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Finally!! Not all football fans have access to broadcasts. Those of us overseas are pretty much left without live games. Until now the NFL has even blocked internet radio brodcasts unless you pay for their nfl.com fieldpass service. I hope they don’t try to block these streams to those outside North America.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Who does this benefit? Football fans without without TVs? Yea, there are a TON of those.
———————–
Who does it benefit?
Having a TV is no guarantee of seeing live NFL. For that you need to have a TV and be in the USA.
So it benefits NFL fans around the world outside of the USA - and desoite what many may think, there are plenty of us, and this will give websites showing games the ability to target advertising at viewers based on IP address and nationality.
There are already sites which offer streamed TV services over the net for a fee, though technically it’s illegal. This will make that legit.
Now all we need is for FOX to follow suit; and frankly, to have one network allow it but not the other would be very strange.
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Rating: 4.35 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 6:23 am
“Who does this benefit? Football fans without without TVs? Yea, there are a TON of those.”
Yeah, it’s terrible that we have the choice of watching whatever AFC game we want on sundays. absolutely terrible.
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Rating: 4.2 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Slow Joe says:
July 25th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Great! I was hoping to watch NFL football in a grainy 4 inch window in between pauses of “buffering…please wait”!
Ever think of clicking on that “view full screen” icon?
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 with 10 rating(s)
July 26th, 2008 at 7:02 am
This is great for people who don’t live in the states and don’t have our version of cable cos we can actually watch our favourite teams play!
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 4 rating(s)