For just the second time in NFL history, the league will be holding a playoff game that will only be available on streaming. When the Baltimore Ravens host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET, the game will be exclusively streamed on Prime Video after Amazon purchased the rights back in February.
Amazon has been streaming NFL games since 2017, but the company had never gotten exclusivity for a playoff game before this year. Amazon has streamed two wild-card games, but both of those were simulcasts of games that also aired on CBS.
Under the NFL's current media contract, the six wild-card games are divided up like this: CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN all get one wild-card game for a total of four. The fifth wild-card game is rotated among the four companies every year (This year, CBS will get two wild-card games while the other networks will get just one).
As for the sixth game, the NFL has been putting it up for bid and that started last year with NBC buying the rights for $110 million so that it could air the game exclusively on Peacock. The Peacock game marked the first time in NFL history that a playoff game was only available on a streaming platform and just the second time in NFL history that a playoff game wasn't available on network television.
The first non-network television game came in January 2015 when the Panthers beat the Cardinals in a game that was only shown on ESPN. Since then, all of ESPN's playoff games have also been available on ABC.
As for Amazon, after landing the exclusive rights to the NFL's Thursday night schedule in 2022, the company decided to swing for the fences by going after a playoff game. With a wild-card game up for bid this year, Amazon decided to go after it and the company ended up winning the bidding by paying an estimated $150 million, according to CNBC.
Amazon will now be getting an attractive game between two division rivals -- the Ravens and Steelers split their seasons series -- and the tech company be looking to break the NFL streaming record. The mark was originally set last January when Peacock got 23 million streamers for Kansas City's playoff win over the Dolphins. However, the record now belongs to Netflix after the company drew 24.3 million streamers for Baltimore's win over Houston on Christmas.
Although this is a an Amazon exclusive game, you'll still be able to watch it on television if you live in Baltimore (WMAR-TV) or Pittsburgh (WPXI-TV) where it will be shown on local channels. You can also watch the game for free if you subscribe to Amazon Prime or Prime Video. If you don't have a subscription, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial here.