Hmm, looks like I wasn't the only one wondering about this. 

"While the boxing match was able to proceed despite some fans complaining of long load times or pixelated images, it was an unwelcome foul-up for a company preparing to air its first live NFL games on Christmas Day. It also revealed the complexity of bringing live sporting events to the global masses."

Can Netflix Avoid Glitches In Its Christmas Day NFL Broadcasts?

RadioActive wrote:

The fact that CTV and TSN are showing both Christmas Day NFL games is remarkable enough for Canadian viewers - those same two contests will be restricted to Netflix subscribers in the U.S. Here, both the K.C-Pittsburgh and the later Ravens-Texans tilts will be on free TV. 

My questions: where are they getting the feed? Does Netflix make room for commercials? If not, how do they get their own in without missing anything?

But the real problem is with so many almost certain to tune in across the U.S., what happens to the feed if it gets interrupted and is plagued with issues like the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing match was on Nov. 15th?

Hopefully, Netflix learned its lesson from that buffering debacle but if it happens again, will it also hang up the broadcast for TSN & CTV? I'm assuming they might have a different source for the feed. But it will be worth watching just see if it all goes smoothly.  

It would be comical at best if CTV is actually logging in to Netflix on some computer at master control and actually feeding that stream to its stations.

Most likely CTV is getting the broadcast backhauled via satellite or whatever. CTV already has been broadcasting the Amazon Prime Thursday Night football games.

RadioActive wrote:

ED1 wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

The fact that CTV and TSN are showing both Christmas Day NFL games is remarkable enough for Canadian viewers - those same two contests will be restricted to Netflix subscribers in the U.S. Here, both the K.C-Pittsburgh and the later Ravens-Texans tilts will be on free TV. 

My questions: where are they getting the feed? Does Netflix make room for commercials? If not, how do they get their own in without missing anything?

But the real problem is with so many almost certain to tune in across the U.S., what happens to the feed if it gets interrupted and is plagued with issues like the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing match was on Nov. 15th?

Hopefully, Netflix learned its lesson from that buffering debacle but if it happens again, will it also hang up the broadcast for TSN & CTV? I'm assuming they might have a different source for the feed. But it will be worth watching just see if it all goes smoothly.  

It would be comical at best if CTV is actually logging in to Netflix on some computer at master control and actually feeding that stream to its stations.

Most likely CTV is getting the broadcast backhauled via satellite or whatever. CTV already has been broadcasting the Amazon Prime Thursday Night football games.

That's actually what I thought, too, most likely a backhaul source. But if there's a problem at the point of origin of the game, you have to wonder if that might affect a TV broadcast. 

That's like any other NFL or sports broadcast on TV. They have a multi million dollar mobile production truck at the stadium. If the mobile truck goes down, so does the game. There's engineers on hand and other contingencies CBS has for these things. The only difference is how the end customer is getting this game. 
 

Last edited by ED1 (December 23, 2024 11:24 am)

Amazon Prime has also had problems with buffering, glitchy sound and poor picture quality on some of their Thursday night games.  Haven't heard that CTV/TSN has had any problems but as mentioned they have a different feed anyway.  https://amazonforum.my.site.com/s/question/0D56Q0000CIjj34SQB/why-does-thursday-night-football-keep-freezing

I remember the first year of Blue Jays games streaming on Apple+ were pretty bad overall.  They would have stretches when everything was fine, but then jumpy shots, buffering and poor sound quality and this would happen sometimes over half an inning.  Didn't watch much last year, but it did seem quite a bit better the few innings I watched.   

Only a matter of time before the NHL has games over Christmas. Someone will make them an offfer they can't refuse at some point 

Well the NFL will be on  U.S. Network television until the current contract expires in 2033. After that who knows.

Obviously it's a backhaul feed... 0% chance it's being streamed in master control. This will be no different than any Thursday game. CTV has aired commercial free quarters in the past without issue, so a different ad load would be communicated to all the broadcasters worldwide well in advance. 

Shorty Wave wrote:

While we’re talking sports on Christmas Day, the NBA is airing 5 games that day, no time for turkey!

Last year when the NFL and NBA competed on Christmas Day, it was like Bambi vs Godzilla. The three NFL games drew between 27M and 29M viewers. The highest rated of the five NBA games [Lakers/Celtics] clocked in at 5M. I suspect similar results this year.

RadioActive wrote:

Turns out Canadians aren't the only ones who will be able to see the games OTA. The rules say the home teams get to show the contests on their local affiliates. That may be the feed CTV and TSN take. 

"Steelers-Chiefs game will be available on CBS affiliates KDKA in Pittsburgh and KCTV in Kansas City. Meanwhile, CBS affiliates KHOU in Houston and WJZ in Baltimore will carry the Texans-Ravens games.

As part of their deal to produce the Netflix games, CBS receives a production fee, promotion spots during the games, and the ability to sell ads in the local markets airing the games on broadcast television."

Not everyone will need Netflix to watch Christmas Day NFL games
 

This local affilliate rule also applies to the Amazon Prime Thursday and ESPN only Monday games.

Despite some early snafus, the NFL on Netflix was a touchdown. 

Netflix has up-and-down first foray into NFL broadcasting after early glitch

I'm not surprised that there were no major server issues with the NFL games that I know of.  The US and some of Canada cares about the NFL. the boxing was a global event.  Try a World Cup final ;)