As I told John Ourand of Puck earlier today, I love his twice-weekly newsletter because I never know when a big story is going to smack me in the face while perusing it.
In Monday night’s edition of The Varsity, I saw the comments from Netflix chief content officer Bela Bejaria to Matthew Belloni of Puck regarding the streamer’s interest in acquiring a Sunday afternoon package.
In the aftermath of the widespread dissemination of the Netflix interest in one of the two daytime Sunday packages, there have been questions whether the comments represent a clear and obvious statement of interest. Some have called it a “hypothetical.” So we listened to the raw audio of Netflix chief content officer Bela Bejaria’s recent appearance with Matthew Belloni on The Town podcast.
Here’s the exchange, from the “lightning round” segment near the end of the interview.
“In five years, will Netflix air a weekly NFL game? And because the answer is obviously ‘yes,’ which NFL package will you steal from a rival?” Belloni asked.
“I say the answer is no, because the rights are already tied up,” Bajaria replied.
“No, but there’s an opt-out in less than five years.”
“If the answer is yes, then I definitely want the Sunday night game — the Sunday games,” Bajaria said.
“You mean the Sunday afternoon or the Sunday Night Football game?”
“Afternoon,” Bajaria said.
It’s not a hypothetical to say the NFL can pull the plug on all of the current broadcast deals after the 2029 season. It’s real. And the interest from Netflix isn’t hypothetical. It’s real.
What’s also real is the likely blowback Netflix received from the current networks that own the Sunday afternoon rights, Fox and CBS. In the 16 years we’ve been affiliated with NBC, we’ve learned a little something about the third rails that will ruffle the feathers of rival networks. A public statement that Netflix is coming for territory currently held by Fox or CBS falls squarely into the category of Things That Will Probably Piss Off A Rival Network.
Netflix has issued no statements in the aftermath of the situation to clarify, retract, or rescind the remarks. If/when Netflix does, we’ll have another update.
And this was supposed to be a slow week.
Read the full article here
