Verizon Pads NFL Deal
Verizon Wireless will pay $1 billion for rights to air more NFL games over its customers’ smartphones, placing a big bet on changing viewer habits as Americans watch more of their favorite shows on screens other than the television.
Next year, the National Football League will begin to show Sunday afternoon games from customers’ home markets on Verizon Wireless phones, adding more of television’s most valuable content to the growing inventory that users can watch on mobile devices. The league is already showing games from Sunday, Monday and Thursday nights on Verizon phones. Typically, only one game is played on those nights, while about 10 to 12 are played across the country on Sunday afternoons.