ATLANTA -- The NFL will proceed with the creation of its own streaming service, NFL Plus. A launch is expected in July. Live games on mobile phones and tablets will be the content centerpiece of NFL Plus, which will sell for about $5 monthly, though a source cautioned the pricing structure may change. It will likely include other content as well; possibilities include radio, podcasts and miscellaneous team-created content. The live mobile/tablet games will be limited to what fans could otherwise see in their local TV markets. Until this year, those games were distributed to tablets and laptops via Yahoo and on mobile phones through major carriers, deals that have since expired.
NFL Plus comes to the front as talks continue over possibly selling an equity stake in NFL Media properties, with Apple and Amazon the front runners. If one of those deals comes to fruition, NFL Plus could be folded into that package. Along with that flexibility, going it alone on this streaming product will give the NFL new data on its users, sources said.