CBS gets mobile streaming rights for its NFL broadcasts

CBS has picked up the rights to provide its NFL football game telecasts to mobile subscribers starting with the upcoming season.

The mobile deal announced Monday comes as part of a larger agreement that extends CBS’s streaming rights to its NFL games until 2022, making it concurrent with its TV contract.

NFL games shown on the broadcast network have been available to subscribers of CBS All Access, the network’s streaming video service, since December 2016. But, until now, that excluded mobile devices as Verizon Wireless had exclusive rights on the platform.

Verizon gave up its exclusivity when it renewed its deal with the NFL in December. The five-year agreement gave the league the opportunity to sell mobile rights to its other TV rights holders.

ESPN gained the mobile rights for “Monday Night Football” and NBC for “Sunday Night Football,” after Verizon announced its deal last year. Fox recently signed with the league to get the mobile rights for its “Thursday Night Football” package and its Sunday games.

Like CBS, the other networks’ mobile deals are aligned with their TV contracts. The four TV networks are committed to pay the NFL around $5 billion a year for their game telecasts until 2022.

CBS did not disclose the terms of the mobile rights, which cover its Sunday afternoon package, playoffs and the Super Bowl.

Under the terms of its new deal, Verizon pays in the range of $400 million a year for mobile streaming rights to every NFL game.

Reaching mobile users — who are younger than the traditional TV audience — is crucial to the networks as they have seen NFL ratings decline for two consecutive seasons.

Amazon has the non-exclusive streaming rights to “Thursday Night Football” games for the next two seasons, for which it paid $130 million. The games are offered to Amazon Prime members who pay the online commerce site an annual fee.

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Twitter: @SteveBattaglio