A HUGE new Freeview sports upgrade is coming to British TV, bringing a new twist to traditional coverage.
Channel 5 has just announced the new multi-year partnership with the NFL and CBS Sports.
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Weekly coverage
The upgrade will bring weekly American football coverage to viewers without a subscription.
Channel 5 are set to offer regular coverage for free, something that has been absent from UK silver screens for years.
The change will come in on September 7 with just a few weeks to go before Brits get access to the American football games.
The action will be broadcast every Sunday evening throughout the season and will include the Super Bowl, international games and playoffs.
Big events
Viewers will be treated to two games every week, the first kicking off at 6pm on Channel 5 and the second following closely at 9pm.
The later match will be shown on 5ACTION which will be temporarily re-branded as 5NFL for game nights.
Aside from basic season coverage Channel 5 has secured some of the biggest showcase events for broadcast on British TV.
The Super Bowl, American sport’s biggest single event, will be broadcast free-to-air.
Channel 5 will also show the NFL’s international games when they come to London and Dublin.
Thanksgiving Day specials, some of the most watched games of the season, will be shown too alongside three playoff games.
The Channel 5 coverage wont replace Sky Sports’ existing NFL coverage.
Sky will continue to show Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football, the Red Zone channel and other games throughout the week.
A new twist
The new deal with Channel 5 will offer UK NFL enthusiasts more content than ever before, split between free-to-air channels and subscription based platforms.
Channel 5 wont be showing strictly game coverage however with a commissioned segment combining live NFL action with a British game show twist.
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The show will be produced by Hungry Bear Media, the same company behind The Wheel and Gladiators.
Dermot O’Leary, Sam Quek and former NFL player Osi Umenyiora will host the segment during natural breaks in the US broadcast instead.
It will consist of a play-along format with two teams of friends and family representing the competing NFL teams.
The teams will only be able to score points when their chosen NFL team has possession of the ball.
Winners get to play for a holiday to an NFL city in America.
The 9pm slot will take a more traditional approach, with Sam Quek and Osi Umenyiora providing analysis and discussion, joined by weekly guests.
Big changes for Channel 5
It comes amid a big year for Channel 5 with My5 merging with the traditional channel under a simplified 5 brand back in March.
Up until now, if you wanted to watch NFL games regularly in the UK, you needed a Sky Sports subscription.
Channel 5 will now be the only place British fans can watch regular NFL coverage for free.
What is the NFL?
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States.
Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).
The NFL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.
It is also the highest professional level of American football in the world.
Each NFL season begins with a three-week preseason in August, followed by the 18-week regular season, which runs from September to January, with each team playing 17 games and having one bye week.
