The NFL has made a ton of money off being frugal with which broadcasting networks can air their games. The league has also pissed off a ton of fans by limiting regional games to only those who have DirecTV satellite service.
But maybe the NFL is starting to soften up a bit and share their coverage. The league is going to webcast 17 regular-season games this season in conjunction with NBC Sports.
NBC will sells the ads across the webcasts, and will share the revenues. Viewers will be able to choose from among at least four live camera angles and review stat updates in real time. NFL Network CEO Steve Bornstein called this a one-year experiment to figure out user habits, and any cannibalization effects.
Playoff games and the Super Bowl will not be offered online, nor will the regional games televised by Fox Broadcasting and CBS (NYSE: CBS). These networks together pay the league $3.7 billion a year in fees for exclusive rights to carry its games. Even though it is only 17 games and excludes the 239 other games on CBS, Fox and ESPN (NYSE: DIS), not sure whether these networks would be happy about the exclusion, or if they were approached for a similar experiment.
Per the article, the 17 games are mostly going to be Sunday Night matchups, which most fans get to see anyway. But still, this is a step in the right direction for the league opening up more to its fans.
