Start setting your 2022 NFL viewing plans today, folks. The NFL has announced that the league's Thursday Night Football games (that is, a marquee game played on Thursday night) will move exclusively to Amazon Prime Video in 2022 — a year earlier than previously announced.
That means that the 2021 season will be the last for Thursday Night Football on Fox, and you're going to want to make sure that Amazon Prime subscription is good to go come 2022. Fox will continue to produce games on Sunday, including the branded "America's Game of the Week."
There's one caveat here — if you're in the broadcast market for the participating Thursday night teams, you'll still be able to watch the game for free if you've got an over-the-air antenna. (Presumably that means you'll blackout restrictions for those local affiliates.)
Amazon Prime Video has streamed Thursday games since 2017, and it adds its own spin to the game, with integrated stats and data, chat and the integration of various social feeds.
Elsewhere, the NFL also will stream Sunday regional games live on Paramount+. ESPN+ now has the rights to one international game a season, and you'll ESPN and ABC games simulcast on ESPN+. Fox's advertising-based video-on-demand service Tubi will begin to carry NFL content. And NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service will "deliver an exclusive feed of a select number of NFL games."
"These new media deals will provide our fans even greater access to the games they love," NFL commissioner Roger Goddell said when the initial slate of media rights were announced in March. "We're proud to grow our partnerships with the most innovative media companies in the market."
