FOX Sports scores NFL's Thursday Night Football in 5-year deal
FOX Sports has scored a deal with the National Football League to broadcast “Thursday Night Football” for five years starting in 2018.
“Football is in our blood at FOX and we understand that nothing beats the NFL when it comes to television that captures people’s attention,” said Peter Rice, president of Twenty-First Century Fox, in a statement. “Our historic relationship with the NFL dates back to the earliest days of FOX, and we couldn’t be more excited to expand our deep and enduring partnership to include primetime games on Thursday night,” he added.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FOXA | FOX CORP. | 46.90 | +1.11 | +2.42% |
Details of the Deal:
- Eleven games between Weeks 4-15 (excluding Thanksgiving night) to be broadcast on FOX, simulcast via NFL Network, and distributed in Spanish on FOX Deportes.
- NFL Network will exclusively televise seven games next season, with FOX producing the full slate of 18 games.
- Major digital expansion, including distribution of both Thursday Night Football and its Sunday games to FOX subscribers to mobile phones for the first time.
FOX now has three of the five most-watched shows in all of television, according to the company. “Thursday Night Football” is a top-five show in all of television and the No. 2 show in primetime. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, a company spokesperson tells FOX Business.
This deal comes as Twenty-First Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA) creates a new powerhouse focusing on sports and TV news, after selling its entertainment assets to Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) in mid-December , for $52.4 billion.
While discussing the deal as it was announced on FOX Business, Twenty-First Century Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch described the company as the “New Fox”.
Twenty-First Century Fox is the parent of FOX Business and Fox News Channel.