The Defense Media Activity (DMA) and the American Forces Network (AFN) are proud to announce that their new video-on-demand and live streaming app, AFN Now, will be streaming the NFL Conference Championships games and Super Bowl XVII. This comes two months after the app’s worldwide launch and successful tests of the live streaming function. Forces and families living overseas now have free access to live professional sports.
Hal Pittman, DMA Director, said, “DMA is working hard to provide our worldwide audiences with the very best entertainment, news, and sports programming available. The ability of AFN Now to live stream the most popular sports events ensures our military sports fans can catch the action on their schedules. This is a big win for our military and families serving overseas.”
The app’s video-on-demand function lets viewers catch up on prerecorded events they may have missed. Mike Drumheller, chief of the AFN Broadcast Center in Riverside, Calif., said, “We started with the Australian Open, and the audience responded enthusiastically. Our team went to work to acquire the NFL playoffs for AFN Now, which required the generous support of the National Football League.”
AFN has a long history of strong relationships within the entertainment industry, sports channels, and professional sports leagues. According to Drumheller, these relationships paid off when AFN leadership approached the NFL and other leagues about acquiring live and/or video-on-demand streaming rights. Chief Master Sergeant Jason David, DMA’s Command Senior Enlisted Leader, said, “We are grateful to our sports industry partners for adopting our newer distribution platforms to keep AFN’s audiences entertained throughout the hardships that come while serving outside the United States. Negotiating these digital broadcast rights to high-value sports programming demonstrates their support to U.S. service members worldwide and all they do for our country.”
In addition to the NFL, AFN has secured digital rights for Australian Open tennis and several X Games. Agreements with other major league sports are ongoing and will result in even more streaming or video-on-demand sports on the AFN Now app shortly. Kimberly Antos, the network’s chief of digital platforms and AFN Now, said that the AFN team had developed new techniques for streaming live sports matches via the AFN Now app. The first NFL games on AFN Now took hours to process and make available as video on demand digitally.
The AFN Now app is available to service members, families, and retirees living overseas. It is free to download and provides audiences with convenient access to their favorite AFN entertainment, news, and sports programming. The app is easy to download, and users can register at https://afn-now.myafn.mil/. It is only available to DOD-affiliated audience members outside the United States, its territories, and its possessions. Before the app works, everyone registering for the service must pass Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) verification.
The app is available on Apple iPhones, iPad and Apple TV, Android phones, Android TV and tablets, next-gen gaming systems and in-home digital media platforms Amazon Fire, Roku, and smart TVs with app functionality. In future development phases, AFN plans to include Xbox and PlayStation gaming consoles. AFN Now builds on and continues the rich legacy of AFN and is its biggest technological leap since the network began satellite-delivered television in 1997. AFN Now advances DMA’s goals of providing audiences worldwide with the highest quality American programming and information.
DMA is the parent organization for military-produced media brands, including AFN, the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS), Defense.gov, military service websites and news services, and publications like All Hands and Airman magazine. AFN and DMA are excited to offer audiences worldwide the opportunity to watch the NFL Conference Championships games and Super Bowl XVII with the AFN Now app.
