Are you ready for some web-streamed football?
Heck, I’m ready for any kind of football, even if it means having to hear about Brett Favre every single day for the rest of the summer.
Let me go on the record, as a New York Giants fan, as saying I’d like to see Favre play somewhere in the NFL. After all, he might help my team in the playoffs again by throwing another of his patented rookie-mistake interceptions to the G-Men’s secondary.
When the NFL comes back with its package of games, the Internet will be an outlet as the No Fun League dips a tippy-toe into the raging waters of online distribution. Sayeth Reuters:
“Sunday Night Football Extra,” as it’s being called, will offer the Al Michaels/John Madden audio stream as well as additional camera angles, the ability to watch multiple video streams and in-game highlights. It will begin with the Thursday night opening night, which will be televised on NBC.
The companies are keeping close to the vest on the financial aspects of the deal, which is a revenue share. But both the NFL and NBC hopes that the addition of Web viewers will be incremental and not slice off a segment of the TV viewership. It’s a one-year deal.
“We’re trying to do things that are not available by watching broadcast television,” said Brian Rolapp, vp of media strategy at the NFL. He thinks that the viewership will be incremental.
We think one market segment will be thrilled with the trial: fantasy football players. Say what you will about the people who line up and face one another in battles of gridiron points, there’s no one else who will care about a bad Sunday night game more than those who have a starting tight end in play.
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