For the first time in history, the Super Bowl will be streamed online.
Tthe NFL and NBC announced on Tuesday that the network’s broadcasts of two wild card games, the Super Bowl and the Pro Bowl will stream on the NFL’s website, NBC Sports' site and select mobile phones.
Viewers will be able tune in on their laptops, their tablets and even on their mobile phones — if they have Verizon — for Super Bowl XLVI, which taks place Feb. 5 in Indianapolis.
“We are pleased to work with our partners NBC and Verizon to bring our fans more ways to watch their favorite sport during their favorite time of the year,” Hans Schroeder, the NFL's Senior Vice President of Media Strategy and Development, said in a statement.
While one has long been able to search for illegal streams of such games online, "NBC Postseason Extra" is the first time the league and a broadcast network are sanctioning online viewing for a game of this magnitude. NBC already streams “Sunday Night Football” online and on Verizon phones.
Whether this undercuts traditional TV viewing remains to be seen. The Super Bowl is the most watched TV event in the United States by far.
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Last year’s Super Bowl, in which the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25, set a new record with 111 million viewers. It remains the most-watched TV broadcast in U.S. history.
While NBC holds the rights to this year's game, the Super Bowl currently rotates between CBS, NBC and Fox.