How to watch NFL 2023: Stream the 2022/23 American football playoffs live in the UK, US and everywhere else
Find all the best methods on how to watch the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl LVII wherever you are
The regular NFL season might be over but now the real fun begins: the NFL playoffs are here. Games across the two conferences got underway on 14 January and will conclude with Super Bowl LVII on 12 February.
To watch the NFL playoffs in the UK, getting a Sky Sports or Now Sports subscription is the simplest route. Alternatively, the NFL’s official streaming service NFL Game Pass will also be showing the playoffs and the Super Bowl wherever you are, subject to geo-located blackouts. Canadian NFL fans can catch coverage via DAZN while those in the US are better off getting a Hulu + Live TV subscription. For all the details on watching the 2022/23 NFL season wherever you find yourself, plus fixtures and more, read our guide down below.
How to watch NFL in | the UK | the US | elsewhere | NFL highlights UK
When did the 2022 NFL season start?
The NFL kicked off on Thursday 8 September when defending Super Bowl champions the Los Angeles Rams host the Buffalo Bills. The remainder of the opening weekend fixtures played out on Sunday 11 September, with some bleeding into the Monday morning for British-based NFL fans, and a single fixture for Monday Night Football (or again, Tuesday morning for those in the UK).
2022/23 NFL schedule
Since the 2021 season, each team in the NFL has played 17 games per season over an 18-week campaign – in total, that’s 272 games for the year and that will be the case for the 2022/2023 season.
The 2022/23 regular-season campaign concluded on Saturday 7 January and Sunday 8 January 2023, whereby 14 teams went into the postseason elimination tournament with hopes of making Super Bowl LVII on Sunday 12 February. The fixtures for the divisional playoffs can be seen below.
How to watch the NFL live in the UK: Sky Sports
In 2020, the National Football League (NFL) and Sky agreed to a five-year broadcasting partnership where Sky became the first international broadcaster to launch a dedicated NFL channel: Sky Sports NFL (Sky 407 / Virgin Media 507).
This means for the NFL’s 103rd season, the match-ups can be caught on Sky Sports with a minimum of five games broadcast live per week. You’ll also get coverage of every playoff game, the Pro Bowl (the all-star game) and the Super Bowl plus NFL Redzone (NFL’s own television network) shows like Good Morning Football and Total Access shows. That’s on top of original content from Sky Sports itself, so there is a lot of NFL action to keep you satisfied.
If you’re already a Sky customer, you can add Sky Sports to your existing package for an extra £25/mth (plus a one-time set up fee) on an 18-month contract. You’ll also be able to register that subscription with three other portable devices (but only watch one at a time).
Those who are new to Sky can currently get an 18-month Sky Signature deal with Sky Sports and Netflix for £44/mth on an 18-month contract – reduced from £51/mth and £65/mth before that. Without Netflix, the cost is the same so you may as well go all-in on your new TV package and watch Netflix’s NFL-based programming like Academy Award winning documentary Undefeated or the popular TV series Friday Night Lights.
How to watch the NFL live in the UK without a contract: Now Sports
If a contractual commitment doesn’t sound appealing, the next best alternative for watching live NFL action is to get a 24-hour or monthly pass to Now. By grabbing a Now Sports membership, you’ll get access to all 11 Sky Sports channels to watch as much NFL as you want without any long-term payment plans – and you can cancel whenever you like. You’ll also be able to watch the latest Premier League and EFL football, Formula One, golf, cricket and more.
Now Sports packages start at £12 for the Sports Day (24 hours) pass, which is perfect for those who just want to dip their toes into the NFL.
If you know you’ll be watching the NFL for longer than 24 hours, however, the Sports Membership pass will suit you better. It rolls on month by month with the price usually costing £34/mth, however, you can often find it for £25/mth – that’s the same price as a Sky Sports package for Sky customers which is pretty exceptional considering you can cancel anytime. And you could split the cost with another NFL fan too, as you’ll be able to stream simultaneously on two devices.
That also includes a one-month free trial of Now Boost which lets you watch in Full 1080p HD picture quality (instead of the usual 720p), improved audio with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and stream at faster speeds so your coverage is always crystal clear. You’ll also be able to stream on three devices simultaneously instead of two. Thereafter, it costs an extra £5/mth.
How to watch NFL in the US: Hulu + Live TV and Amazon Prime
For US NFL fans, things are a little complicated. You’ve got to subscribe to CBS Sports for AFC Sunday games, Fox Sports for NFC Sunday games, ESPN for Monday Night Football and Amazon Prime for Thursday Night Football.
The most comprehensive streaming service to cover most of those channels is Hulu + Live TV. It’ll cost $70/mth and get you access to CBS Sports, Fox Sports and ESPN channels as well as all official NFL Network programming on the NFL Network channel.
That’s the vast majority of the games – unfortunately, you’ll need to get an Amazon Prime subscription separately to be able to watch any Thursday Night games. In total, there are 15 regular season games shown on the Amazon network from 15 September, with the remainder on the networks listed above. For Amazon Prime though, it’ll cost $15/mth (plus tax) or $139/yr but you can grab a free 30-day trial to test it out before you commit.
Click on the links for both streaming services below to get prepared for the new season.
How to watch NFL in the US via mobile devices: NFL Plus
Another alternative for watching NFL action is by the NFL’s own domestic service NFL Plus. It’s exclusively for mobile devices and tablets – no laptops or TVs will grant you access. Should that be ok, then you can grab a basic subscription for $5/mth or $40/yr and get live local and prime-time regular season and postseason games on your phone or tablet. You’ll also be able to watch live out-of-market preseason games on those devices (or a TV too, for these games only), as well as live game audio for every single game plus ad-free access to NFL Films and other NFL Network programmes.
The premium tier costs $10/mth or $80/yr and will grant you the same access plus ad-free full and condensed (45-minutes) game replays for games as far back as 2009 – ideal for a NFL fanatic or those trying to dive into the history of American Football. You’ll also get ad-free All-22 camera footage: that’s the birds-eye view angle of games watched by coaches and players.
Should you want to try before you buy, NFL Plus also has a seven-day free trial which is pretty handy.
How to watch NFL in Canada: DAZN
In Canada, the sole digital and streaming coverage of the NFL comes from DAZN. It will show every NFL game and RedZone, both live and on-demand, while also offering football fans 24/7 streaming of the NFL Network on DAZN.
A subscription to DAZN Canada costs $25 CAD/mth or $200 CAD/yr.
How to watch NFL live and on demand anywhere else: NFL Game Pass
For NFL purists, there is arguably no better option than getting all your American Football needs met by the organisation itself and NFL Game Pass.
You can even sign up for free and watch the NFL Network Live 24/7 as well as ‘Sunday in 60’ highlights, five minute game highlights and game previews throughout the season. Though to really maximise its output, especially if it’s your only subscription for NFL content, there are better paid options: Essential (£43/yr – which works out to about £3.60/mth) or Pro (£151/yr or £37.75 per quarter – which works out to about £12.60/mth). Essential adds in NFL RedZone Live coverage, 40 minute highlights and access to a huge library of on-demand NFL films to the free package. Whereas Pro is full-fat NFL action has all of that plus the core action: all 270+ games (subject to blackout restrictions), the playoffs and the Super Bowl live and on demand with full game replays and coaching-cam game highlights.
NFL Game Pass is available in most regions worldwide, from Europe and the Middle East to Mexico, Africa, Pan Asia and beyond – in these countries, it’s called the NFL Game Pass International. While this grants most countries unlimited access to all games, the UK and Ireland are subject to “blackouts” as a result of Sky Sports’ NFL television rights. People located in the United States, Canada or China have no access to the pass whatsoever.
How to watch NFL abroad: Use a good VPN
Should you not be able to access NFL coverage using any of the means above – as the streaming service in question is geo-blocked so you can’t watch it while abroad – then you’ll need to get a good Virtual Private Network (VPN) service. VPNs are great for maintaining privacy and security while online, and they can also be used to bypass geographic restrictions, if you happen to come up against one when attempting to watch your favourite show while you’re on holiday.
Scroll down to read about our favourite VPN options, Express VPN and NordVPN.
READ NEXT: Best VPNs for speed, privacy and streaming
ExpressVPN: This is our absolute favourite VPN for streaming live sport like the 2022 NFL season as we’ve continuously found it to offer the best speeds in the most locations. It’s great for privacy, too, as the company has been independently audited by PwC to prove that it doesn’t store logs of user activity or data. Plus, you can save yourself money with three months of ExpressVPN going for free (a saving of 49%) when you follow the link below.
NordVPN: While ExpressVPN is the speediest option out there, the ultimate all-round experience comes from Nord. It has a lovely map interface, simple for those using their first VPN, while also offering nifty features like a static IP location. Like Express, Nord has also been audited to prove that it holds no user data. Better still, you can get your money back within 30 days if it isn’t all that you thought it was.
How to watch NFL highlights: ITV and Channel 5
There are a couple of options if highlight packages are good enough NFL coverage for you – and fortunately, they won’t cost you a jot.
Since 2016, the BBC has made “The NFL Show” (previously called “NFL This Week”) which has shown the best bits from all the games that weekend. However, ITV has now poached analysts Osi Umenviora and Jason Bell from the BBC show, as well as the the programme itself, in what is a new three-year partnership between ITV and NFL. Laura Woods will host the new one-hour long show which begins on Friday 9 September and will air at 11:30pm on ITV. It will also be repeated at 8.30am on Saturdays on ITV4 as well as being available on ITV Hub. In addition, ITV will also broadcast two of the upcoming three London based NFL games live on ITV network, as well as the Super Bowl LVII next year. It is yet to confirmed what the show will be called but you can be sure that we’ll update this page when we know.
The other option is via Channel 5 which broadcasts “NFL End Zone” on Sundays to showcase the biggest talking points and action from the NFL that week. You can follow the links below to access either highlights programme on demand as and when they are released.
