Facebook Inc. has withdrawn its bid to live stream the National Football League (NFL) Thursday games, according to Bloomberg. A person with knowledge of the talks told the publication that the social media giant backed out of the deal owing to differences in connection with commercials during the game.
The news comes a few weeks after Facebook expressed its interest in live-streaming the upcoming NFL games. Dan Rose, the company's VP of partnerships, had told Variety last month that they were in talks with the NFL to get live-streaming rights for Thursday games.
A reliable source told Bloomberg that Facebook wants to live stream the games without commercials, while NFL wants to follow the traditional advertising model to earn revenue. It went on to say the early morning London-based games that come with the deal didn't impress people from the social media giant.
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The NFL appears to be eager to find an online partner because of the growing number of people live-streaming games from their smartphones or personal computers rather than watching on television. Many might like the idea of Facebook broadcasting the most popular sports in America but it may not happen.
It is reported that Amazon and Verizon were also in talks with the NFL to live-stream games this season. So it wouldn't come as a surprise if one of these companies gets the rights to broadcast the games online.
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Meanwhile, CBS and NBC have struck a deal with the NFL, agreeing to pay $45 million per game for five Thursday night games.
