The NFL has not been shy about its pursuit of making its product as widely available as possible. Earlier this year, the league took another step toward its goal by striking a three-year deal with streaming giant Netflix.
There was plenty of excitement leading up to the NFL’s Christmas Day doubleheader on Netflix, but there were also some concerns. The streamer was facing pressure to ensure that issues that popped up during the livestream of last month’s bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul did not resurface on Wednesday.
While the streaming quality did not appear to falter leading up to kickoff and at least through the first half of the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers, there were some minor hiccups during the pregame coverage.
Pregame co-host Kay Adams’ microphone appeared to be off for a few seconds at the start of the show. At a later point, ESPN personality Mina Kimes was interrupted by a seemingly unscheduled advertisement for the upcoming season two premiere of Netflix’s popular show “Squid Games.”
Cameras did eventually cut back to the pregame show after the ad.
Pregame coverage began a couple of hours before the Chiefs and Steelers kicked off at 1 p.m. ET.
Once the action got underway, another noticeable miscue surfaced. The scorebug listed just two remaining timeouts for the Steelers, despite Pittsburgh being in the midst of its opening drive. The error was corrected a short time later.
NETFLIX UNDER PRESSURE WITH CHRISTMAS DAY NFL SLATE AFTER TYSON-PAUL STREAMING DEBACLE
The defending Super Bowl champions held a 13-7 lead over Pittsburgh at halftime.
Netflix earned the rights to stream at least one holiday game in 2025 and 2026, according to the terms of the multiyear deal with the NFL.
“Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a news release in May shortly after the Christmas Day package of games was announced.
“There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences NFL football attracts. We’re so excited that the NFL’s Christmas Day games will be only on Netflix.”
Music superstar and Houston native Beyoncé is scheduled to perform at halftime of the Houston Texans-Baltimore Ravens game at NRG Stadium later on Wednesday.
Netflix paid an estimated $150 million for the rights to the games, per Bloomberg. The streamer and the NFL have had an ongoing relationship over the past couple of years.
The docuseries “Quarterback” was released on Netflix in 2023, and “Receiver” premiered on the streaming platform last month. While the former focused on three different signal-callers at different points of their careers, the pass-catching series follows four wideouts and one tight end.
In keeping with previous deals, the agreement with Netflix allows games to be shown on broadcast television in the competing teams’ home markets. The league-owned NFL+ streaming service will allow fans in the U.S. to watch the games via their mobile devices.
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