Moonves Predicts Tech Giants Will One Day Bid For Sunday NFL Rights

Companies like Amazon and Twitter already have streamed "TNF" games GETTY IMAGES

CBS Chair, President & CEO Les Moonves yesterday predicted that the net "might find itself bidding against deep-pocketed tech giants for NFL rights when its contract with the league ends in five years," according to Dawn Chmielewski of DEADLINE.com. YouTube, Amazon and other tech players "making major investments in entertainment programming were absent from the bargaining table" when Fox outbid CBS for rights to "TNF." However, Moonves predicts that the "day is coming when they look to secure rights" to stream NFL games. Moonves said that the NFL "still believes in the power of broadcast television." But he "predicts the NFL will look for dual revenue streams in the future, which implies selling streaming rights to NFL games." Moonves yesterday also "revisited his reason for bowing out of the Thursday night NFL sweepstakes, saying the package simply got too expensive" (DEADLINE.com, 2/27).