The National Football League said today that it will stream entire games live on the Internet.
The NFL has partnered with NBC to stream Sunday Night Football Extra on NBCSports.com and NFL.com. It is the first time that the NFL has made entire games available online.
Fans will be able to select different camera angles for the live streaming games, have access to game highlights, statistics and updates from NBC.
Sunday Night Football Extra will start with NFL Kickoff 2008 on September 4 at 7 p.m. EDT, when the Washington Redskins take on the defending Super Bowl champions New York Giants.
“This is an exciting step forward for us as we offer our fans a new way to watch NFL games,” said Steve Bornstein, NFL Executive Vice President of Media. “We are combining NBC’s outstanding Sunday Night Football telecast with extras that will enhance the fan enjoyment of the game.”
The NFL says the arrangement with NBC is part of a one-year experiment to gauge the interest fans have watching games live online.
Other feautres available online include the ability to watch multiple streams at the same time, along with access to highlights that a fan may have missed earlier in the game.
“In the first two seasons of NBC Sunday Night Football we created a new destination to reach viewers and changed traditional primetime football viewing habits,” said Dick Ebersol, Chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. “Now, together with the NFL, we are adding the live streaming element where users can interact with the broadcast to enhance their experience.”