In New NFL Deal, Verizon Trades Mobile Exclusivity for Rights on Yahoo
December 11 2017 - 8:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint
Verizon Communications Inc. has struck a more than $2 billion
deal to show NFL football games on its mobile network as well as
its Yahoo, Yahoo Sports and go90 mobile platforms.
Verizon will make national games on Monday, Thursday and Sunday
nights, in addition to the playoffs and Sunday afternoon games from
a user's home market, available on its apps for smartphones and
tablets, regardless of a customer's mobile carrier, company and NFL
officials said.
Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. According to people
familiar with the pact, the agreement runs for five years, and
Verizon's annual rights and sponsorship fee to the National
Football League will rise from its current $250 million to more
than $450 million.
Unlike its previous agreements with the NFL, Verizon will no
longer have the exclusive mobile rights to distribute national and
in-market games to its wireless customers. Games will continue to
be available via the NFL's mobile app. The partnership starts in
January with the postseason when games, including the Super Bowl,
will be expanded to Verizon-owned platforms like Yahoo and Yahoo
Sports.
Verizon was willing to give up exclusive mobile rights in return
for NFL content for its other platforms. In its previous deal,
exclusivity was seen as crucial for Verizon to attract new wireless
customers and keeping existing ones. Now the focus is on building
its other platforms, particularly since Verizon bought Yahoo
earlier this year for $4.5 billion.
"We want to be the first screen for live sports," said Brian
Angiolet, Verizon's senior vice president and global chief media
and content officer, who called the new deal a "game-changer" that
would elevate its media platforms.
Verizon will continue to be aggressive in its pursuit of sports
for its platforms, Mr. Angiolet said.
The mobile-rights deal marks a significant increase for the NFL
despite a second straight season of declining ratings, showing that
content distributors still view professional football as a
must-have property.
"We have been confident in the value of our content," said NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Mr. Angiolet said the NFL "remains the marquee sport" for
reaching a mass audience. While viewing on traditional platforms is
slowing, "the viewership on mobile continues to grow," he said.
Verizon also receives commercial inventory to sell on its platforms
as part of the contract and will remain an official sponsor of the
NFL.
Verizon's properties aren't the only place that cord-cutters
will be able to turn for NFL content. The NFL has broadened the
number of platforms where its games are available in an effort to
keep up with changing viewing habits among viewers, particularly
those in the 18- to 34-year-old demographic. This season,
Amazon.com Inc. agreed to pay $50 million to the NFL for rights to
stream 10 Thursday night games to its Amazon Prime members.
"It was important to us to make our games more accessible to our
fans," Mr. Goodell said. "Verizon understood we needed to go
cross-carrier."
The next rights contract that comes up is the Thursday night
package, which is currently shared by Comcast Corp.'s NBC, CBS
Corp.'s CBS and the NFL-owned NFL Network, along with the Amazon
streaming deal. There have been calls for eliminating or at least
reducing the number of Thursday games, but the NFL hasn't indicated
if it would reduce the package. The current pact expires after this
season.
The Verizon renewal comes just days after Mr. Goodell signed an
extension to remain as commissioner of the league through the 2023
season. That means Mr. Goodell will oversee negotiations of the
major broadcast and cable rights deals that pay the league an
average of $5 billion annually and are set to expire after the 2021
season.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 11, 2017 08:14 ET (13:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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