Why you may not be able to watch Detroit Lions-Kansas City Chiefs opener on NBC
The highly-anticipated opening night battle between the Detroit Lions and the Kansas City Chiefs will be the first taste of an ascending Lions team against the defending Super Bowl champions. It serves as the appetizer before a tantalizing season in which the Lions are considered favorites to win the NFC North.
The only problem: Millions of Americans, including those in the Grand Rapids area, might not be able to turn on their TV and easily find the game Thursday night.
An ongoing dispute between DirecTV and Nexstar, a national news station that owns affiliates in over 100 cities including WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, will prevent millions of DirecTV users from watching the game on cable after the two companies could not reach an agreement on retransmission fees in July.
The blackout affects over 10 million DirecTV subscribers across the country, and extends to other Nexstar-owned networks such as WLNS, the CBS affiliate in Lansing.
LIONS VS. CHIEFS: Dave Birkett's scouting report, prediction
The blackouts have no impact on viewing the Lions game in the Detroit area, because the local NBC affiliate, WDIV Local 4, is not a Nexstar station. It will, however, force out-of-market viewers to be more creative if they use DirecTV and have a Nexstar NBC affiliate to watch the nationally-televised game.
This is the only Thursday night NFL game this season, where this will be an issue for cable users. For the rest of the season, Thursday Night Football games will be exclusively streamed on Amazon Prime. The Lions will be on Prime later in September when they play at the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night in Week 4.
How to stream NFL games on Peacock
The best option if cable is not available is to use Peacock, NBC’s official dedicated streaming site, named after the company’s iconic logo. It offers two separate plans (Premium and Premium Plus), though new subscribers in 2023 will no longer have access to the free entry-level plan.
The Lions-Chiefs game will be broadcast on the NBC Sports website for people with a TV login and on Peacock for people without one. Peacock does not require a TV subscription of any kind and will allow users affected by the blackout to stream the game without issue on any smart TV or mobile device.
Peacock is entering the fold as a primary carrier of live sporting events moving forward. NBC is moving more games to Peacock and has already started to carry Big Ten football games, like Michigan’s first game of the season, on the website for streaming only.
Lions TV Schedule 2023
Date Game Time Network
Sept. 7 at Kansas City, 8:20 p.m., NBC/Peacock
Sept. 17 vs. Seattle, 1 p.m., Fox
Sept. 24 vs. Atlanta, 1 p.m., Fox
CARLOS MONARREZ: These 7 games will determine whether 2023 Lions will be good, great or bad
Sept. 28 at Green Bay, 8:15 p.m., Amazon Prime
Oct. 8 vs. Carolina, 1 p.m., Fox
Oct. 15 at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m., Fox
Oct. 22 at Baltimore, 1 p.m., Fox
Oct. 30 vs. Las Vegas, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
Nov. 12 at L.A. Chargers, 4 p.m., CBS
Nov. 19 vs. Chicago, 1 p.m., Fox
Nov. 23 vs. Green Bay, 12:30 p.m., Fox
Dec. 3 at New Orleans, 1 p.m., Fox
Dec. 10 at Chicago, 1 p.m., Fox
Dec. 17 vs. Denver, 1 p.m., time TBA
Dec. 24 at Minnesota, 1 p.m., Fox
Dec. 30 at Dallas, 8:15 p.m., ABC
Jan. 7 vs. Minnesota, time/TV TBA
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why NBC's coverage of Detroit Lions game may not be available to some
