First, it was ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast that tested the fans’ patience. Now it’s Amazon’s Thursday Night Football broadcast that is getting called out for its poor streaming. The fans who tuned in to watch the Seattle Seahawks vs. Denver Broncos face-off are now questioning why they even bothered.
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“Thursday Night Football on @amazon Prime is terrible. Blurry, drops out, buffers. How does the #NFL allow such a crappy product to be broadcast? #TNF,” wrote co-author of Missional Essentials, Brad Brisco.
Amazon Prime Video is reportedly paying $1 billion every year to the NFL to broadcast Thursday Night Football, per a deal struck in 2022. But since then, the broadcast has also racked up its fair share of criticism.
This issue has been widely reported by numerous fans over time. Some say the commercials are clear, but the game broadcast is bad. Others also allege that other apps like YouTube and Netflix have good streaming quality for other content, but it was only the Thursday Night Football broadcast that had this problem.
Other fans have also tweeted about bad video quality during the Broncos-Seattle game. One user also wrote on X that the broadcast caused them to “get a headache.”
Before the Broncos vs. Seahawks game tested the viewers’ patience, they raised the issues with Thursday night’s Buffalo Bills vs. Detroit Lions on September 17. The stream on Amazon Prime Video reportedly faced persistent technical issues, including pixelation, buffering, and repeated interruptions.
Things have been bad for Prime Video since the first year it started broadcasting Thursday Night Football. The broadcast for the Denver vs. Indianapolis game in 2022 was so bad that employees of the local KMGH ABC station felt the need to apologize to viewers.
“I know we didn’t play, we didn’t even really run this broadcast, but the fact that you had to watch that? On our air? I feel bad,” Nick Rothchild, who was one employee who apologized, told Deadline. “I was here and I didn’t even want to watch it. Where do we begin?”
Already, when it comes to Amazon Prime, the fans’ patience is running thin. Courtesy? Al Michaels. He has repeatedly made many, many mistakes during his broadcast.
So far, the veteran announcer has mistaken Bijan Robinson for Brian Robinson, said Mason Graham (who played at Michigan), was from Michigan State, and wrongly identified Oregon as Michael Penix Jr.’s alma mater.
During the Broncos vs. Seahawks face-off, Michaels maintained his streak. During the live Prime Video broadcast, he called Denver return man Marvin Mims Jr. by the wrong name, referring to him as “Marvin Jones.” Retirement calls have been pouring in for Michaels for a long while. But Amazon is not yet ready to let him go.
The Al Michaels issue aside, Prime Video’s broadcast issues seem to be recurring. Even Pat McAfee had noted issues with the audio quality in the Packers vs. Commanders game last year, where the crowd noise seemed to be poor.
“First game of the year for Amazon, so I think they’re trying to figure it out. But I think this has been a thing with them a lot,” McAfee said on his show. “I think it has been a lot of, stadium sounds much quieter on Amazon than anyone else. And I hope they understand that loud crowd is good for a game and sport and television.”
However, in a 2024 summit, Prime Video VP of Technology BA Winston said that the tech built is “enabling customers with uninterrupted streams and high quality and we are focused on continuing to do that.”
Two years on, the problems continue.
“Yo this Amazon TNF stream s**** a** Is it pixely for anyone else?” wrote a fan.
“The football game on @amazonprimenow is absolutely horrible to look at with this poor ass video reception,” wrote another.
“No it’s literally just ass because of the stream Amazon puts out. Literally is not the consumer when EVERY other stream works perfectly except TNF on prime,” shared a fan.
“@amazon Why is my Prime video picture glitching in slow motion but the voice is fine on my Fire tablet tonight watching NFL TNF. I can’t watch this. Why am I paying,” wrote another fan.
“Amazon prime should be embarrassed with the quality of the TNF stream. Horrendous!!” a fan wrote.
It remains to be seen what becomes of the broadcast quality in the future.