NFL TV rights deals extended through '22

CBS, Fox and NBC have officially extended their rights deals with the NFL through 2022. The new contracts, believed to have a combined value of more than $3 billion annually (Variety, Dec. 6), run for nine years beginning in 2014 -- the longest agreements ever between the league and its broadcast partners. Earlier this season, the NFL and ESPN reached an eight-year extension to keep "Monday Night Football" on ESPN through the 2021 season. As expected, one byproduct of the new deals is that they will enable the NFL to expand its Thursday night package of games on the NFL Network, to an undetermined number. The nine Super Bowls under the deal have been split evenly between CBS, NBC and Fox. Super Bowl L, coming in 2016, goes to CBS. NBC will add a Thanksgiving night game to its sked beginning in 2012, two years before the new contracts take effect, giving the Peacock 19 regular-season night games (including 17 Sundays and the season-opening Thursday). The network will also have the option to show its games on Spanish-language net Telemundo, and will replace one of its two wild-card games with a divisional playoff game. Additionally, NBC Sports Network will launch a Sunday morning pregame show beginning in 2014. CBS retains the American Football Conference package that it acquired in 1998, while Fox will stay with the National Football Conference package it has held since 1994. The deals also begin to expand an aspect of flexible scheduling that began quietly this season: the trading of games between CBS and Fox, when there's an imbalance between the two. On Dec. 4, CBS allowed Fox to televise a game between Denver at Minnesota. Specifics on flexible scheduling are still being hammered out. Contact Jon Weisman at jon.weisman@variety.com