Twitter reportedly beat out Verizon, Yahoo, Amazon, and Facebook to earn the rights to stream Thursday night National Football League games online, a person familiar with the deal told Bloomberg. Twitter's foray into online programming isn't an entirely unexpected one: The deal would help solidify Twitter as the go-to place to watch and react to live events, especially as households increasingly cut cable subscriptions.
While many had expected the deal to go to Amazon, Twitter and the NFL signed a two-year deal to distribute highlights and clips last year. CBS and NBC won the rights to broadcast Thursday night games earlier this year, Re/code reports.
UPDATE 9:18 a.m.: The NFL has confirmed the deal with Twitter in a statement. "There is a massive amount of NFL-related conversation happening on Twitter during our games and tapping into that audience, in addition to our viewers on broadcast and cable, will ensure Thursday Night Football is seen on an unprecedented number of platforms this season," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.
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