CBS produces Netflix NFL Christmas doubleheader

Netflix has signed a deal with CBS to produce the NFL doubleheader on Christmas Day. Joe Flint from The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

Under the deal, Netflix will pay CBS a production fee and air commercials for the network's programming. CBS will also have advertising inventory on the local terrestrial simulcasts in participating markets.

According to Flint, Netflix is ​​not obligated to use CBS hosts under the contract.

Netflix earlier this year secured the rights to the NFL's Christmas games for the next three seasons, including this year's two games – an afternoon doubleheader of the Chiefs against the Steelers at 1 p.m. ET and the Ravens against the Texans at 4:30 p.m.

The NFL was not originally expected to schedule any games this holiday season because the holiday falls on a Wednesday, a day of the week on which the league rarely schedules games. However, the league's success in drawing viewership on the holiday prompted it to change course. To accommodate the Wednesday games, the league scheduled the four participating teams' games for the preceding Saturday — which meant the same number of days off as if they had played on Sunday and Thursday.

The NFL Christmas games are something of a milestone for Netflix, which has been considered an underdog for sports rights for years. The NFL will be the first traditional live sports broadcast from the streamer, which has aired a handful of made-for-television contests in the past.

For the NFL, the Netflix games are just the latest entry into direct-to-subscriber streaming and complement the Football on Thursday evening package on Amazon and annual games on Peacock and ESPN+. As a result of the Netflix deal, the NFL now has relationships with all but one of the so-called FANG stocks – Amazon, Netflix and Google, with the exception of Facebook.