Fox Adds NFL Games Amid Streaming Scrutiny in Washington
The network will have an unprecedented tripleheader in Week 10.
Amid the NFL’s growing embrace of streamers, broadcast television is still adding at least two more games. Fox executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch said in a Monday morning earnings call that the network has picked up rights to a pair of additional NFL games. This supplement to the Fox broadcast schedule follows a separate, prior pickup of a Christmas night slot.
The league is in the midst of reselling the rights to five games it previously picked up as part of its complex equity deal with ESPN . Netflix is also expected to be a key player for at least part of that inventory. The first of the two extra games is an international contest from Munich in Week 10 on Nov.
15, one in which the Lions will be the home team—in turn forming an unprecedented NFL tripleheader that day across the network. The latter will be a Saturday game in Week 15. Fox’s expanded NFL deal comes as the league prepares to reopen all its core domestic rights deals , which could have a disproportionate financial impact on the network .
“I think the important note to take here is that there is no tension with the NFL,” Murdoch said. “We have been partners for 30 years. We’re looking forward to being partners for the next 30 years.