Fox Corporation and Comcast’s NBC Universal have struck an agreement that will allow both networks to produce separate Spanish-language simulcasts of the Super Bowl this season.
The deal will see Fox Deportes and Telemundo air unique simulcasts of Super Bowl LIX (59), which will take place in New Orleans next February. Fox holds the telecast rights to Super Bowl LIX, the National Football League’s (NFL) championship game which pits the best teams from the National Football Conference (NFC) and American Football Conference (AFC) against each other.
The Super Bowl is typically the highest-rated television event of the year, and the right to air the game rotates among networks each year. Fox and NBC Universal are part of that deal, which also involves Paramount Global’s CBS and the Walt Disney Company’s ABC.
Fox lacks a broadcast network that offers Spanish-language programming — Fox Deportes is available through pay television platforms like cable and satellite on an exclusive basis — and while Fox could produce its own Spanish-language simulcast through a secondary audio channel of its primary network, partnering with NBC Universal will put the Super Bowl in front of more Spanish-language households via broadcast TV than if it were relegated to pay TV.
“Delivering live NFL games in Spanish is key to reaching the large and rapidly growing Spanish-speaking NFL fan base,” Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s Executive Vice President of Media Distribution, said on Monday. “We are constantly looking for ways to expand access to our games and reach more fans, and this partnership is another step forward. We are excited for the experience that Fox Deportes and Telemundo will create for Super Bowl LIX.”
According to a person familiar with the arrangement, the agreement between Fox and Comcast involves licensing the national telecast rights of the Super Bowl to the network on a non-exclusive basis. Fox will retain the right to sell national commercial inventory against the Fox Deportes and Telemundo broadcasts, while NBC Universal will have the right to sell regional and local commercial spots.
While unusual, such agreements are not rare: Last year, the NFL allowed Televisa-Univision’s broadcast network Univision to air the Spanish-language simulcast of Super Bowl LVIII (58), which also aired on TUDN, the company’s cable sports network. CBS offered the game in English on its broadcast network and streaming service Paramount Plus, and produced a kid-friendly version of the event that aired on Nickelodeon.
