Amazon has moved into the business of live-streaming content, as the retailing king struck a deal with the NFL for the broadcast rights to 10 “Thursday Night Football” games for the upcoming 2017 season, according to The Wall Street Journal. Twitter was outbid for the rights to the games after other platforms witnessed the successful integration of football contests on the social media outlet. Millions tuned in every week on Twitter, who paid the league an estimated $10 million for rights to “Thursday Night Football.” This season, the games will only be available to those who are subscribed to Amazon Prime.
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ESPN reports Amazon coughed up $50 million for this season’s partnership, which means that “Thursday Night Football” is not going away anytime soon, as much as fans and players continue to voice their displeasure with the arrangement. Facebook and YouTube were also reportedly interested, but the Internet marketplace giant’s offer was just too fruitful to pass on.
The NFL has reached a deal to stream 10 Thursday night games with Amazon https://t.co/c9IGRBAfQa
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) April 4, 2017
“For us, this is about starting to bring live sports to our Prime members all around the world,” said Amazon’s Head of Business Development, Jeff Blackburn.
Football can’t get here soon enough.