NFL fans are bracing for potential issues with Netflix’s Christmas Day games after the streaming giants experienced latency issues during the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight. The NFL sent a cryptic message to NBC when asked to comment about looming connectivity issues.
For the first time, Netflix will host NFL games. On Christmas, the streaming giants will feature: the Kansas City Chiefs vs the Pittsburgh Steelers at 1:00 pm EST, and the Baltimore Ravens vs the Houston Texans at 4:30 pm EST.
NBC asked an NFL league spokesperson if “there any contingency plans in place for tomorrow in the event Netflix has technical issues? They received a coy response: We will be prepared and we are looking forward to a great day.
Netflix will air the games to its 282.3 million subscribers in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and German. The streaming giants reported that 60 million households watched the Paul-Tyson fight.
Telluride Legal Strategies founder Rob Rosenberg spoke with Josh Lipton of Asking for a Trend about Netflix’s potential challenges. “Streaming is a complex process,” he said.
“Sometimes when demand is huge, it overpowers the system, it overwhelms it,” he continued. “You’ve got delays, and problems arise. But I would not bet against Netflix. I think that the timing of the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight was a great test case for Christmas Day.”
“The best way to get good at streaming at scale is to just do it. There were some hiccups in the fight last month, but I think that they’re going to nail it on Christmas Day with these games.”
Netflix loaded up with a stacked broadcasting team for the contests – the pregame show alone will feature Kay Adams, Drew Brees, Robert Griffin III, and Mina Kimes.
Ian Eagle will call Chiefs-Steelers with an assist from Nate Burlson and JJ Watt on color commentary. Ian’s son Noah Eagle will call Ravens-Texans with help from FOX sports analyst Greg Olsen.
Both games feature massive playoff ramifications. The Chiefs can lock up a first-round bye with a win, while the Steelers could put themselves in a position to clinch the AFC North with a win.
The Ravens must win out and hope for a Steelers loss to win their division. The Texans have already secured the AFC South title but are still jostling for seeding the tight AFC playoff picture.
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