Bill Maher Says NFL Coverage on Streaming Is ‘Worst of All Worlds’

Bill Maher would prefer to watch NFL games on linear TV, not on streaming. In Friday’s episode of his show Real Time With Bill Maher, the comedian railed against the NFL’s recent push into streaming TV.

“Enjoy the Super Bowl this weekend while you can because it’s probably one of the last ones to be shown on broadcast TV, which is a shame because streaming is ruining football, and that’s Taylor Swift’s job,” he quipped.

Maher said he used to be able to switch between NFL games by hitting one button on his remote control. “But on YouTube TV, I have to go back to the home page, go to ‘Sports,’ go to ‘NFL,’ then scroll across to find the second game you want to check on, [and] wait for the circle-y thing to calm down,” he said.

The HBO host thought football moving to streaming would mean he wouldn’t have to sit through commercials. “No! Plenty of commercials,” he said. “Except, unlike old TV where I may have DVR’d the game to watch later after it’s over and I could zip through the commercials, streaming purposely makes it so you can’t do that. They don’t let you see what you’re fast-forwarding through, so there’s no way to tell where the commercials end and the action resumes. The start of the third quarter, it’s harder to find than the G-spot.”

Maher pointed out that it’s impossible to find a game on streaming a full day after it has aired. “It’s just gone, like an FBI agent who investigated [Donald] Trump,” he joked. “So what I have now is the worst of all worlds: I have to watch it when it’s on, I’m paying for it, and I’m still watching commercials, and I can’t zip through them. Boy, isn’t it great that things are better than the old days when we had to sit through commercials and watch shows right when they aired? Yeah, so much better. And lest you think this is only a boomer bitching? No, I checked Reddit. Kids of all ages hate this s***.”

For the 2024 football season, the NFL gave exclusive games to Netflix, Prime Video, Peacock, and ESPN+, according to CBS Sports. Super Bowl LIX, at least, will still be viewable on broadcast TV, airing on Fox on Sunday, February 9, while streaming on the NFL app and Tubi.

Real Time With Bill Maher, Fridays, 10/9c, HBO