The NFL and NBC announced on Monday that NBC will broadcast a playoff game this season on Wild Card Saturday exclusively on its streaming service, Peacock, marking the first time a playoff game doesn’t appear on a television network.
On Wild Card weekend, NBC will get two games on Saturday, Jan. 13, with the 4:30 game airing on NBC and Peacock followed by the Peacock-exclusive game in primetime. Both NBC and Peacock will then get a third game on Sunday night, becoming the first network to air three playoff games in one weekend.
This comes after the NFL began airing its Thursday Night Football package exclusively on Amazon last year, the first time it consistently aired games on a streaming service.
According to the announcement, NBC will air the game on cable networks for the two markets of the teams playing in the game. For fans who do not live in the cities of the two competing teams, they will only be able to watch the game on the streaming service.
In preparation, Peacock will exclusively air one regular-season game, the Bills vs. Chargers game on Saturday, Dec. 23. The league will also air the Falcons vs. Jaguars game in London exclusively on ESPN+ on Sunday, Oct. 4.
Last year, NBC aired two different playoff games on Wild Card weekend, with Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth working the Ravens-Bengals game while Al Michaels and Tony Dungy broadcasted Chargers-Jaguars. The NFL already moved one Wild Card game to Monday night starting two years ago as part of its expanded playoffs schedule.
