“Inside the NFL” is out at Paramount+
Inside the NFL is out.
John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that the long-running weekly highlights and analysis show will not return to Paramount+ in 2023, and that it is looking for a new home.
The NFL has already been shopping to show to other outlets.
Inside the NFL debuted in 1977 on HBO, and it stayed there until moving to Showtime in 2008. In 2021, CBS moved it from Showtime to Paramount+.
“As one of the longest running sports shows on TV, we thank HBO and Showtime/CBS for providing a home for Inside the NFL for more than 40 years,” an NFL spokesperson told Ourand. “We’re excited for the continued evolution of this iconic program with a new partner as we look ahead to the 2023 NFL season.”
It nothing else, Inside the NFL could air on NFL Network, or on NFL+, the league’s in-house streaming service. It also could be used as a way to expand the relationship with streaming platforms, like Amazon Prime, Netflix, or Apple+. Or it could land with a current NFL broadcast partner, on a streaming platform — like Peacock.
The show was appointment viewing in the days before YouTube and social media, where highlights became available in almost real time. Coupled with the proliferation of sound captured from players and coaches during games, there’s nothing special about waiting until Tuesday night for whatever Inside the NFL may have, because it doesn’t have enough content that hasn’t already been consumed, repeatedly.
That said, there are several weeks throughout the season when an Inside the NFL sound bite goes viral on Tuesday afternoon. So there’s value in packaging those moments. The challenge could be finding a way to do it in a different way.
For now, all we know is it will happen on a different platform.
“Inside the NFL” is out at Paramount+ originally appeared on Pro Football Talk
