American football’s elite NFL has announced a new multi-year media partnership in the UK with media giant Paramount Global for its Channel 5 commercial network to provide free-to-air coverage of the league for the first time in 20 years.
Starting with the upcoming 2025-26 campaign, Channel 5 will have two Sunday evening fixtures per week throughout the regular season via its new NFL: Big Game Night show, which looks to blend its coverage with entertainment segments.
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The slate will also include the NFL regular season international games that will take place in London, England, and Dublin, Ireland, in 2025
These games are disseminated by US rightsholder CBS Sports, owned by Paramount, which has facilitated the partnership.
Additionally, Channel 5 will also air three of the league’s annual post-season playoff games and the season-ending Super Bowl, ensuring that the sport’s biggest showcase, a major TV draw in the UK, remains on free-to-air TV.
Channel 5 has partnered with production company Hungry Bear Media to produce its studio content around the games, centered on the Sunday 6pm kick-off, which it says will aim to attract a “family audience”.
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By GlobalDataOther Paramount-owned brands, such as the children’s entertainment channel Nickelodeon, will also support the broadcast, alongside a nationwide advertising campaign.
Speaking on the deal, Paramount UK chief content officer Ben Frow commented: “5 continues to grow its sport offering and this partnership with the NFL represents a real step forward, bringing fans and families live games in primetime, all completely free-to-air.”
Channel 5 has signaled its intention to invest further in sports rights through a pair of acquisitions in recent months.
In May, the network agreed a broadcast deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board to provide free-to-air coverage of international T20 matches under a four-year contract, while in June it reached a broadcast agreement with the elite World Snooker Tour.
On social media platform LinkedIn, NFL UK general manager Henry Hodgson indicated that this is set to be one of as many as three upcoming broadcast partnership announcements in the territory.
Pay-TV heavyweight Sky Sports, owned by US media giant Comcast, has been the primary NFL rightsholder in the UK for over a decade, and when speaking to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport) earlier in 2025, Hodgson acknowledged the strength of the pair’s partnership, while acknowledging the need for free-to-air coverage.
“I think there's certainly an understanding that Sky's done a fantastic job and continues to be the home of the NFL in the UK, but also the free-to-air coverage that we can get can help really reach more and more people.” He explained.
In the US, the NFL has a range of different media partners across a number of different linear and OTT platforms. On whether the league may seek to replicate this concept in the UK, he continued: “What we're looking for is really, how do we reach as many people as possible on all the right platforms?
“Free-to-air is certainly one [major platform], pay TV is one. We look at some of the streaming platforms and what they're doing now to get sports on board and bring some of their subscribers. We look at things like YouTube as a platform where you can reach a number of people, and, obviously, with some of the amazing creators that are on that platform as well.
“So, I think there's all kinds of avenues that we can go down. And what we're looking at is what's the right mix in this country to reach the most people with the goal of really engaging, perhaps a younger audience, while also servicing our most avid fans.”
The NFL has also announced a new sponsorship deal with luxury watch brand Breitling, which becomes its official timepiece partner.
Through the deal, Breitling will manufacture two new product lines featuring colorways representing each of the league’s 32 teams.
Breitling will also activate across the league’s biggest tentpole events, including the Super Bowl, and in cities where the league will host international games in 2025 (London, Dublin, Madrid, Berlin, Sao Paulo).
NFL executive vice president and chief revenue officer Renie Anderson commented on the league’s first-ever timepiece partner: “This partnership unlocks new possibilities and value for the NFL, allowing us to set a new standard for our brand.”
