Super Bowl Will Be Live-Streamed Online for First Time
Want to watch the Super Bowl on your phone? For the first time, there's a live stream for that.
NBC's broadcasts of four major football games - the two Saturday wild card games, the Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl - will be streamed live at NBCSports.com, NFL.com and through Verizon's NFL mobile app, for the first time, the NFL announced today.
Verizon customers will be able to use their laptops, smart phones and tablets to watch the "NBC Postseason Extra" stream, which will launch with the televised broadcast of the wild card games on Jan. 7 , followed by the Pro Bowl on Jan. 29 and Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5, hosted in Indianapolis.
The service will include additional camera angles, highlights, talent interaction, live stat updates as well as instant replay.
NFL spokeswoman Joanna Hunter said the application will allow you to replay key moments over and over again in case you missed that incredible toe-drag touchdown or you had to leave your Super Bowl party to pick up an extra bag of chips.
"We don't see the online offering serving as anyone's primary screen," Hunter said. "We anticipate that our fans will still be gathering around the television screen on Super Bowl Sunday. … We see the computer as a complimentary screen."
Not to worry, those unforgettable Super Bowl ads will be included as part of the replay package too.
Hunter said that the streams will be through Verizon only because the mobile carrier has a pre-existing relationship with the league and NBC. In addition NBC is the only network that already streams football games live and in their entirety for free domestically, Hunter said.
"The technology is already in place," she said.
NBC has been streaming their "Sunday Night Football" telecasts for the past four seasons, typically averaging 200,000 to 300,000 viewers, compared with 21 million for their live telecasts.
Last year's Super Bowl, in which the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25, was the most watched television program in U.S. history, racking in a whooping 111 million viewers.
The rights to the Super Bowl currently rotates every year between NBC, FOX and CBS. Madonna will perform at the Super Bowl XLVI half-time show.