In today’s media landscape, streaming platforms have spent billions of dollars on live sports broadcasting rights as the control of live sports has become essential to long-term economic growth. With only about half of American households retaining cable television, and the United States cable network widely considered to be in the “decline stage” of its life cycle, it has become more important than ever for streaming services to acquire sports broadcasting rights to create long-term sustainability.[1]

Peacock, a subscription streaming service owned and operated by Comcast through its NBCUniversal division, suffered fourth-quarter losses of $522 million in 2025, despite subscriber numbers increasing by 22%.[2] By comparison, Peacock incurred $372 million in losses in the fourth quarter of 2024, which is an increase of about 40% year-over-year.[3] This 40% increase is directly attributed to Peacock incurring higher programming costs and expenses in 2025.[4] Specifically, they were from onset payments towards the new $27 billion, eleven-year media rights agreement with the NBA beginning in the 2025-26 season.[5] This agreement required Peacock to pay $2.5 billion annually to obtain the exclusive rights to NBA regular-season and playoff games and secure significant growth for the NBCUniversal division.[6] Therefore, with the addition of the NBA-NBC agreement and the growing value of live sports, Peacock’s fourth-quarter losses may be short-lived.

NBC has a history of hosting major sporting events.[7] The NFL’s Super Bowl LX was the most watched show in the history of NBC, which also streamed on Peacock.[8] On February 8, 2026, NBC set an all-time media record during the NFL’s Super Bowl LX matchup between the Seahawks and the Patriots, reaching 137.8 million viewers.[9] Due to high demand, Comcast completely sold out of advertising space, even though a standard thirty second commercial cost around $8 million and their ten premium advertisement slots sold for more than $10 million each.[10] On Peacock specifically, Super Bowl LX increased traffic and engagement across the entire platform.[11] Based on total audience reach and hours streamed, Peacock experienced its most successful day ever on February 8, 2026, due to the Super Bowl and the platform’s post-Super Bowl debut of “The Burbs” achieving the highest Day 1 debut of any Peacock original.[12] This demonstrates how live sports can drive platform-wide value beyond the broadcast itself.

Even more impressive, Super Bowl LX represented just one of three major sporting events that NBC had lined up for its “Legendary February,” which consisted of Super Bowl LX, the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, and NBA All-Star Weekend.[13] In less than a week of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics starting, it was already the most streamed winter games ever.[14] Peacock has passed 6.3 billion viewing minutes with its dedicated live streams for events.[15] Notably, Olympic broadcasting rights are less expensive than those of the NFL or NBA, with NBCUniversal paying an average of about $1.34 billion per Olympic Games under its current agreements that began in 2014, but was extended just last year.[16] Because the Olympics attract massive global audiences over multiple cycles, these rights are long-term investments that help NBC, specifically Peacock, maintain steady viewership and financial sustainability to allow them to afford substantial media rights agreements with other leagues.

However, the strategy used by streaming platforms to obtain sports broadcasting rights is not limited to long-term agreements with professional sports leagues. For example, Netflix’s highly publicized broadcast of the Jake Paul versus Mike Tyson boxing fight became the most streamed sporting event in history.[17] Although the fight was structured as a single event rather than a multiyear contract, the fight drew massive global attention and demonstrated that live sporting events have become essential tools for subscriber acquisition and platform visibility. Therefore, together with Peacock’s investment in NBA broadcasting rights, this reflects a shift in bargaining power toward sports leagues and advertisers, as streaming platforms that obtain these media rights can attract record-breaking viewership and leverage their new viewership to command higher advertising rates, obtain more favorable partnerships, and maximize the value of live sports.

More recently, YouTube TV is launched its “Sports Plan” in February to allow its subscribers to watch sporting events from a wide variety of major United States networks.[18] This new platform will be in direct competition with Fubo and DirecTV, but could be even more successful than these competitors because DirecTV is more expensive than YouTube TV’s Sports Plan, and, unlike YouTube TV, Fubo does not have access to NBC and TNT programs.[19] Thus, as competition to secure media rights for live sports grows, it is clear that live sports are becoming one of the most valuable forms of programming. Live sports programming guarantees large audiences for a guaranteed amount of time, which forces streaming platforms to secure rights early, capitalize on peak viewership, and retain audiences for as long as possible beyond the live sports broadcast itself.

[1] Nick Lichtenberg, The Netflix-Paramount saga caps a 2025 turning point, S&P says: Cable TV is in the ‘decline stage,’ with a long, slow bleedout ahead, FORTUNE (Dec. 29, 2025), https://fortune.com/2025/12/29/cable-tv-decline-long-slow-bleedout-netflix-warner-paramount-sp-media-review/.

[2] Alex Donaldson, Peacock Q4 losses increase as NBA rights payments begin, SPORTCAL (Jan. 20, 2026), https://www.sportcal.com/news/peacock-q4-losses-increase-as-nba-rights-payments-begin/?cf-view.

[3] Brian Steinberg, Comcast Q4 Sees Fall in Cable Revenue, Wider Peacock Losses, Despite Boost in Ads, Wireless, Theme Parks, VARIETY (Jan. 29, 2026), https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/comcast-q4-cable-revenue-wider-peacock-losses-1236644283/.

[4] Maria Kholodova, Peacock losses deepen, but NBA provides comfort, SPORTBUSINESS (Jan. 30, 2026), https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/peacock-losses-deepen-but-nba-provides-comfort/.

[5] See Steinberg, supra note 3; see also NBA Signs new 11-year media agreements with the Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime Video through 2035 season, NAT’L BASKETBALL ASS’N (July 24, 2024), https://www.nba.com/news/nba-media-agreements-2024; The real reason NBC paid record money to bring back NBA, BASKETNEWS (Oct. 30, 2025), https://basketnews.com/news-233485-the-real-reason-nbc-paid-record-money-to-bring-back-the-nba.html.

[6] See BASKETNEWS, supra note 5; see also The NBA and WNBA Return to NBCUniversal with 11-Year Agreement for Regular Season and Playoff Basketball on NBC, Peacock, USA Network, Sky Sports, and Telemundo, COMCAST (July 24, 2024), https://corporate.comcast.com/press/releases/nba-wnba-nbcuniversal-agreement-basketball-nbc-peacock-usa-network-sky-sports-telemundo#:~:text=Peacock%20Monday%20Night%20NBA,Day%20in%20January.

[7] See BASKETNEWS, supra note 5; see also COMCAST, supra note 6.

[8] SUPER BOWL LX IS SECOND MOST WATCHED ALL-TIME WITH NEARLY 125 MILLION VIEWERS, PEAKING AT ALL-TIME U.S. RECORD 137.8 MILLION VIEWERS ACROSS NBC, PEACOCK, AND TELEMUNDO, NBC SPORTS (Feb. 10, 2026), https://www.nbcsports.com/pressbox/press-releases/super-bowl-lx-is-second-most-watched-all-time-with-nearly-125-million-viewers-peaking-at-all-time-u-s-record-137-8-million-viewers-across-nbc-peacock-and-telemundo.

[9] Id.

[10] Moz Farooque ACCA, Comcast Scores $800 Million Advertising Haul From Super Bowl, YAHOO FIN. (Feb. 12, 2026), https://finance.yahoo.com/news/comcast-scores-800-million-advertising-165416249.html.

[11] Id.

[12] NBC SPORTS, supra note 8.

[13] Legendary February: How to Watch the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, Super Bowl LX, and NBA All-Star Weekend, COMCAST (Jan. 22, 2026), https://corporate.comcast.com/press/releases/legendary-february-how-to-watch-milan-cortina-winter-olympics-super-bowl-lx-nba-all-star-weekend#:~:text=Super%20Bowl%20LX%20on%20Telemundo,the%20biggest%20night%20in%20football.

[14] Rick Porter, Peacock Strikes Gold With Outsized Olympics, Super Bowl Audiences, THE HOLLYWOOD REP. (Feb. 13, 2026), https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/peacock-2026-winter-olympics-ratings-1236501540/.

[15] Id.

[16] Id.

[17] Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson Was the Most Streamed Sporting Event in History, NETFLIX, https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/jake-paul-vs-mike-tyson-live-release-date-news (last visited Feb. 13, 2026).

[18] Martin Ross, YouTube TV Sports Plan to cost $65 per month, SPORTBUSINESS TECH (Feb. 10, 2026), https://tech.sportbusiness.com/news/youtube-tv-sports-plan-to-cost-65-per-month/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tech-default_2026-02-12.

[19] Jacob Feldman, How YouTube TV’s Sports Plan Compares to Fubo, DirecTV Offers, SPORTICO (Feb. 12, 2026), https://www.sportico.com/business/media/2026/youtube-tv-sports-streaming-service-discount-fubo-directv-1234884474/.