For Television, NFL Deal Is Likely A Matter Of Survival

NEW YORK -- AP -- The numbers attached to the new $113 billion deal to telecast NFL football games through 2033 are so large it's hard to get your head around them — until you realize that the very survival of television networks as we know them may depend upon it.

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For the biggest broadcast networks, the deal guarantees they will each have a piece of the programming that is more dependable than anything else they put on the air for the next 12 years. Some experts worry about whether the deal's allowance for streaming of all future NFL games may eventually make television networks less vital to viewers. But for the networks, there wasn't much choice.