Amazon, DirecTV Strike Deal to Stream Thursday Night Football in Bars & Restaurants

Amazon is set to launch its first NFL football package this week when Thursday Night Football begins airing on its Prime Video service, but that isn’t all.

In a newly announced multi-year agreement with DirecTV, Prime Video will telecast Thursday night games to fans in 300,00 sports bars, restaurants, hotel lounges, casinos, sportsbooks, and other venues nationally. The deal comes as many commercial venues are not equipped for streaming, whereas most are already set up to receive satellite service.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the deal will kick off with this week’s final pre-season game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Houston Texans and will continue for all 15 regular season games. The agreement also includes the broadcast of Amazon’s pre-game, half-time, and post-game coverage.

“The sports media landscape continues to evolve rapidly, and the focus on delivering a great experience to our entire range of customers must remain at the center of that evolution,” said Rob Thun, DirecTV’s chief content officer, in a statement (via THR).

He continued: “This agreement between Amazon and DirecTV for Business comes at an important time when more streaming companies are obtaining exclusive rights to marquee sports programming and fans want to cheer on their teams at home and while out at bars, restaurants and other businesses with friends, family and coworkers.”

Related

NFL Preseason 2022 TV Schedule

In May 2021, Amazon secured the exclusive rights to begin airing Thursday night games in 2022, buying out the games which had previously been set to air on Fox. It marks the first time a national NFL package will be exclusive to a streaming service.

Thursday Night Football, San Francisco v Houston, 8:15/7:15 c, Prime Video