By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –@tvanswerman

TV Answer Man, I am not a fan of streaming getting so many exclusives of football and baseball games these days. Do you know if Peacock’s playoff game will require a subscription or will it be free like playoff games have been through an antenna or whatever? I am tired of subscribing to all these streamers!! — Bill, Corsicana, Texas. 

Bill, the National Football League announced on Monday that Peacock this season will host the first-ever exclusive live streamed NFL Playoff game. The game will be a Wild Card playoff game in prime time on Saturday, January 13, 2024.

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The news immediately triggered an outpouring of protests from fans, some of whom say they have difficulty streaming due to limited Internet at their homes while others say they are tired of having to subscribe to multiple streaming services to watch the games.

But will the Peacock playoff game be free or will it require a subscription to one of the streamer’s two plans?

Answer: The playoff game will require a subscription to Peacock’s base plan, Premium, which is currently $4.99 a month. The web site, Front Office Sports, confirmed that yesterday with an NBC Sports spokesperson.

This is more bad news for fans who were hoping the league would at least allow the game to be free if it was restricted to one streaming service. But Comcast, Peacock’s parent, agreed to pay more than $100 million for the rights to this game so that ended the free discussion there.

The NFL has indeed expanded the digital distribution of ‘NFL content’ over the last 18 months. Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service is now the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football games; Peacock this season will host one exclusive regular season game (December 23 between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Chargers); and ESPN+ will have another exclusive regular season game on October 1 from London between Jacksonville and Atlanta.

Plus, the NFL last December awarded Google the exclusive rights to the NFL Sunday Ticket after being carried exclusively by DIRECTV for 28 years.

The online-only games will be available on local stations in the markets where the teams play as well as the NFL+ mobile service.

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Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.

— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman