NBC is looking to promote its NBC Sports Live Extra streaming service, and football fans will reap the benefits on February 1.
The Super Bowl will be available to stream – for free and without a login – on NBC.com and NBC Sports Live Extra. All you’ll have to put up with is “consistent messaging in and around the experience about the ease in authenticating after the end of The Blacklist.”
Networks have been live-streaming the Big Game for years now (since 2010), but this year NBC is doing something a bit different. The broadcaster is making a big event of it, offering 11 continuous hours of streaming coverage – the Super Bowl pre-game show. Super Bowl XLIX, the Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show Starring Katy Perry, the Super Bowl post-game show, and The Blacklist.
This is the first time that the halftime show, one of the most popular elements of the entire Super Bowl broadcast, will be streamed.
Make no mistake, this is meant as a direct promotion for NBC’s TV Everywhere services.
“‘Super Stream Sunday’ builds off of NBCUniversal’s commitment to create broader TV Everywhere opportunities for our consumers,” said Alison Moore, GM and EVP, TV Everywhere, NBCUniversal. “We are leveraging the massive digital reach of the Super Bowl to help raise overall awareness of TV Everywhere by allowing consumers to explore our vast TVE offering with this special one-day-only access.”
But hey, if you can’t watch the game by conventional means you’ll most definitely welcome a free HD stream, right?
The login-free stream will only work on desktops and tablets, as NBC Sports Digital doesn’t have the streaming rights for mobile (Verizon does).