Seven Network Acquires Australian Rights to NFL

June 16, 2014

Australia’s Seven Network has signed a new five-year broadcast deal with the National Fooball League (NFL). 

Seven has secured the free-to-air broadcast television rights and will screen the US winter sport on Seven and 7mate, including America’s most-watched television event, the Super Bowl.

ESPN, part of the Walt Disney Company, retains pay-TV rights in Australia.

Seven will broadcast three consecutive games live on Sunday, concluding with NFL Sunday Night Football on 7mate on Monday. Seven will also broadcast the NFL Playoffs live and marquee NFL games such as the traditional Kick-off game and Thanksgiving NFL matches.

7mate will telecast other NFL programs, including Hard Knocks, Sound FX, A Football Life, Road to the Super Bowl, Road to the Playoffs and America’s Game: The Super Bowl Champions.

Seven said the partnership expands beyond television to Seven’s digital platforms, including online and Hybrid Broadcast Broadband Television for select NFL programming and video clips on Seven’s primary digital properties.

“This is a great signing,” Seven’s head of sport Saul Shtein said.

“We are delighted to be partners with the NFL in Australia. The signing of the NFL to Seven reaffirms a key strategy in our future: a focus on live coverage of major sports events across our broadcast television platform and leveraging and expanding that presence into new forms of content delivery.

“We are looking forward to working with the NFL and its other media partners to deliver all-encompassing coverage across a number of our broadcast platforms.

NFL vice-president of international media and business development Julie Moeller said the Seven deal would give fans “broader access to our content on free television and across their digital platforms”.