Amazon has confirmed a deal with the National Football League to give Prime members streaming access to the league’s Thursday Night Football games when the season starts in September.
It’s costing Amazon $50 million, according to The Wall Street Journal, to air the 10 games.
Amazon already offers Prime members the ability to add special subscription packages, such as Showtime and Starz, for an additional price, but the new NFL package will be free for subscribers.
“We’re focused on bringing our customers what they want to watch, Prime members want the NFL,” Amazon Senior Vice President Jeff Blackburn told The Wall Street Journal.
Amazon beat out bids from Google, Facebook and Twitter to have the exclusive online streaming rights. This isn’t the first time the NFL has tried to move into the world of streaming. Twitter had a similar deal with the league last year for only $10 million dollars, according to a Bloomberg report.
This might be the right move for the NFL if they want to hold on to younger viewers. Cable subscriptions have been dwindling over the last few years as customers move toward cheaper streaming packages and services. About 25 percent of American households now go without any cable or satellite packages, according to a report by market research company GfK. That number goes up to 38 percent for the 18- to 34-year-old demographic.
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